England debutant banned pending investigation

England fast bowler Ollie Robinson has been suspended from international cricket pending an investigation into tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013 that used racist and sexist terms.

The posts came to light earlier this week when he made his Test debut against New Zealand. 

Robinson, 27, was the pick of England's bowlers in the drawn Test at Lord’s with seven wickets in the match and had released a statement on Wednesday apologising for his "thoughtless and irresponsible" tweets.

"England and Sussex bowler Ollie Robinson has been suspended from all international cricket pending the outcome of a disciplinary investigation following historic tweets he posted in 2012 and 2013," the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement on Sunday.

"He will not be available for selection for the second Test against New Zealand starting at Edgbaston on Thursday 10 June. Robinson will leave the England camp immediately and return to his county." 

Earlier in his post-match comments on Sunday, Joe Root said more had to be done to educate players "about how to behave in society".

"Ollie's learned a hard lesson. It's unacceptable what he's done," Root said.

"He's fronted up to the dressing room and the world.

"We've started doing a lot of good work as a team and we'll continue to do that. We want to make the game as inclusive and diverse as we possibly can, and we'll continue to keep looking at finding ways to make that possible."

On Wednesday, Robinson said he was ashamed of the tweets, which he said were sent during a tough period in his life after he'd been fired by English county Yorkshire as a teenager.

"On 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," Robinson said.

"I want to make it clear that I'm not racist and I'm not sexist.

"I 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."

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said Robinson's tweets were "not acceptable" and had tarnished an otherwise memorable day in his career, but he also acknowledged that the fast bowler had apologised and recognised his mistake.

"You just can't be doing this," Hussain told Sky Sports. "It's just not good enough, it's just not on.

"But I also think we're probably a bit of a cruel society if we don't realise that an 18-year-old does make mistakes ... and he's got it horribly wrong and he's fronted up.

"It does not make it right in anyway. (The tweets) are horrible, they are not right, and you should never say those things whether you're 18 or 28.

"There is no room for racism, there is no room for online hate, there is no room for being a keyboard warrior just because it's four in the morning and you've had a few beers. It is not acceptable.

"But he's an 18-year-old lad who's made a mistake, and we've all made mistakes. And it's ruined the biggest day as a professional cricketer."