Ollie Robinson Opened Up About His Old Racist Tweets After End of Play on Day 3 Against India

Ollie Robinson stated that he has grown as a person over time after being recently embroiled in a racism controversy that threatened to mar his short career for England. The pacer was handed a suspension from all forms of cricket by the England and Wales Cricket Board for his controversial racist tweets almost eight years ago.

He made a comeback to the side against India in the first Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham. It was a sweet day 3 in the office for the tall pacer, as he claimed his maiden five-for while restricting India to 278-all out. He accounted for Rohit Sharma in the morning session on Day 2 before coming back to clean up the lower-middle order to end up with figures of 5/85.

A couple of months ago, during his debut at Lord’s against New Zealand, Robinson’s tweets as an 18-year-old resurfaced. They were deemed to be offensive and racist, which resulted in a widespread call for his axing. Talking about how he has become a better person since then, Robinson said:

“I was young 18-19 years old. I made a lot of mistakes, not just those tweets. I’ve grown as a person a lot in that time. Obviously, I’ve learned a lot try to develop as a person in the last 10 years. I try to make myself the best person I can be. It was the toughest period in my life. It affected myself and my family but I’ve learned a lot since then.”

“It was quite tough and to get the rewards, in the end, was pleasing” – Ollie Robinson

Having worked out the English pacers in a tough morning session on Day 2, Rohit Sharma was dismissed playing the pull shot off Robinson. This triggered a collapse for India as they went from 97/0 to 112/4. The rain then intervened to cut short the day’s play.

On Day 3, overnight batsmen KL Rahul (57*) and Rishabh Pant (7*) were coming back into action. While the former played a watchful knock, the latter went about playing his natural game. It brought about his downfall, but late lower-order resistance from Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah saw India take a handy lead of 95.

Ollie Robinson and James Anderson shared nine wickets between them, with Robinson stating he was happy with the efforts in the end.

“It was quite tough and to get the rewards, in the end, was pleasing,” he said.

England openers saw a tough phase after Tea before rain intervened again with the day’s play being called off with the hosts on 25/0. They trail India by 70 runs in the second innings.