Pacer Robinson apologises after racist, sexist tweets resurface

Pacer Ollie Robinson who returned as Englands most successful bowler with two wickets for 50 on the first day of the first Test against New Zealand at Lords was left redfaced after his racist and misogynist tweets resurfaced on Twitter forcing him to issue an apologyOn the biggest day of my career so far I am embarrassed by the racist and sexist tweets that I posted over eight years ago which have today become public I want to make it clear that Im not racist and Im not sexist he said in a statementI deeply regret my actions and I am ashamed of making such remarks I was thoughtless and irresponsible and regardless of my state of mind at the time my actions were inexcusable Since that period I have matured as a person and fully regret the tweets added the rightarm bowler Robinson in the statementOver the past few years I have worked hard to turn my life around I have considerably matured as an adult he further saidThe work and education I have gained personally from the PCA my county Sussex and the England Cricket Team have helped me to come to terms and gain a deep understanding of being a responsible professional cricketerRobinson who was the pick of bowlers on Wednesday while others struggled had made offensive tweets between 2012 and 2014 which targeted Blacks Muslims women and AsiansReal N dont let the microwave hit 000 he had written in one of his tweets taunting Blacks on their colourMy new Muslim friend is the bomb he said in another tweet linking Muslims to terrorismI wonder if Asian people put smileys like this emoticon monolid eyes he said in another tweet taunting facial features of East AsiansBesides these there were several unpalatable tweets on womenIronically his tweets surfaced on a day when the England and New Zealand teams started the match with a moment of unity gesture against all forms of discriminationFormer England skipper and commentator Nasser Hussain said Robinsons old tweets ruined the biggest day of his careerThere is no room for racism there is no room for online hate it has ruined his biggest day as a professional cricketer said Hussain on Sky SportsRobinson said he does not want his old tweets to affect and tarnish the efforts and image of his England teammates and the England and Wales Cricket Board ECBI dont want something that happened eight years ago to diminish the efforts of my teammates and the ECB as they continue to build meaningful action with their comprehensive initiatives and efforts which I fully endorse and support Robinson added in his statementI will continue to educate myself look for advice and work with the support network that is available to me to learn more about getting better in this area I am sorry and I have certainly learned my lesson today he saidECB chief executive Tom Harrison that the board follows a policy of zero tolerance towards racismI do not have the words to express how disappointed I am that an England Mens player has chosen to write tweets of this nature however long ago that might have been Harrison saidAny person reading those words particularly a woman or person of colour would take away an image of cricket and cricketers that is completely unacceptable We are better than this he addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever