England likely to drop Ollie Robinson for 2nd Test vs New Zealand

Despite having a stellar performance on his Test debut, Ollie Robinson could face a ban or suffer a huge fine, or a combination of both ahead of the second Test against New Zealand which starts on June 10 in Edgbaston. The speedster got into trouble after people dug up his eight-year-old tweets, which had racist and sexist undertones to them.

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have launched a probe on the pacer in order to get further details and reach a conclusion. Reportedly, the probe will begin after the fifth day of the ongoing Test at Lord’s, which ends on Sunday. Furthermore, ECB chief executive Tom Harrison had responded by saying there will be zero tolerance from the board against the eight-year-old tweets.

ECB looking for replacements for the second Test

As of now, it seems that a ban from the next Test is the likely step forward according to News18. It has also been noted that England selectors have already started looking for replacements. Lancashire’s Saqib Mahmood and Durham’s Brydon Carse are in the line to replace Robinson. The 27-year-old was highly impressive with both bat and the ball, during a Test where most of the English players were not up to the mark.

Robinson picked up four wickets in the first innings and then further picked up two scalps during the last session on day four when New Zealand came out to bat in their second innings. He also scored 42 crucial runs in the first innings with the bat. As it turns out, Robinson has had one of the best debuts for England in recent times, yet he has been stuck in a controversy.

The tweets which had gone viral were made by Robinson eight years ago when he was just a 19-year-old young man. Interestingly enough, Yorkshire, with whom Robinson had signed up between 2013 and 2014, has distanced themselves from this issue by releasing a statement. In the statement, it said that Yorkshire wasn’t aware of such social media activities done by the pacer.

Talking about the Lord’s Test, New Zealand is leading by 165 runs with eight wickets left in their second innings after four days of play. The third day of the Test was called off due to rain.