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England pace bowler Ollie Robinson was recently suspended from international cricket owing to his ‘sexist’ and ‘racist’ social media posts from the past, which emerged as he made his Test debut. Robinson will remain suspended until the outcome of a disciplinary investigation.
The 27-year-old’s memorable Test debut at Lord’s against New Zealand, in which he claimed seven wickets and scored 42 runs, was marred by all the off-field controversy surrounding him.
Although Robinson issued an apology for the controversial tweets, England’s Test captain Joe Root conceded that the cricketer’s actions, albiet from the past, were unacceptable. Root was quoted as saying after the Test:
"He's contributed well with the bat, his performance with the ball was excellent. But in regards to the stuff that's happened off the field, it's not acceptable within our game. We all know that.”
When cricketers’ social media posts backfired
In the wake of the Robinson controversy, we take a look at five other players who got into trouble due to their social media activity.
#1 Suryakumar Yadav
Indian batsman Suryakumar Yadav recently made a memorable T20I debut against England at home after a long wait. Back in 2017 though, frustration seemed to have got the better of him, as he retweeted a post that got him into trouble.
The Mumbai middle-order batsman Suryakumar Yadav was asked for an explanation by the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) after retweeting a post that questioned his exclusion from the Mumbai squad for the Inter-state T20 tournament.
"Players are not allowed to comment on selection on social media," MCA joint-secretary Unmesh Khanvilkar was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo back then.
Earlier, in 2016 as well, Yadav was let off with a verbal warning after he had tweeted and expressed his displeasure at Jay Bista being dropped for Mumbai's semi-final match against Madhya Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy.
These days, though, Yadav is making news for all the right reasons.
#2 Rory Burns
After England suffered an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat inside two days in the pink-ball Test in Ahmedabad earlier this year, England women’s cricketer Alex Hartley, in a seemingly light-hearted tone, wrote on her social media account:
"Nice of the England boys to get this Test match finished just before England Women play tonight."
England batsman Rory Burns, however, responded to the tweet and shockingly commented:
"Very disappointing attitude considering all the "boys" do to support the women's game."
Burns later deleted the tweet and was reminded of his ‘social media responsibilities’ by a member of England's team management.
Hartley later commented that her social media post was taken out of context. She said:
“Think it's been taken the wrong way/out of context. No offence was meant. We are all Test match fans."
In a podcast, she also revealed that the tweet by Burns led to immense backlash as she was told by some trolls to ‘go and die’.
#3 Kevin Pietersen
In 2010, Kevin Pietersen had to issue an apology after using abusive language in a social media post relating to his exclusion from the England team.
Pietersen was dropped from England's Twenty20 and one-day international squads for a series against Pakistan, and took to Twitter to vent his anger, but did not word his tweets in an acceptable manner.
He later deleted the social media post and came out with an apology, which read:
"It came out in the way that I didn't want it to come out. It was something that wasn't meant for the public domain and I apologize for it entering the public domain and I also want to apologize for the language I used. It wasn't anything against the England selectors or the England setup. I was pretty upset about my own form and frustrated about it too."
Then selector Geoff Miller told Sky Sports that he had a chat with KP, who explained the situation and apologized and hence the matter was closed.
#4 Emily Smith
In 2019, Cricket Australia (CA) banned Hobart Hurricanes wicketkeeper Emily Smith for 12 months, nine of those suspended, after she revealed the Hurricanes team that was to face Sydney Thunder on her personal social media account.
CA’s Anti-Corruption Code prohibits players from revealing any inside information regarding teams or matches. Sean Carroll, CA’s head of integrity and security, had agreed back then that Smith did not intend to breach the code. However, she added that it was important for players to be aware of their responsibilities even while using social media.
Issuing a statement on the matter, Carroll said:
“Whilst Cricket Australia acknowledges that at the time of posting the team line-up there was no intent to breach the Anti-Corruption Code, CA’s rigorous anti-corruption player education program means that players are well aware of their obligations under the Anti-Corruption Code and there is no excuse for breaches regardless of the reasons for information being disclosed.”
#5 John Mooney
In 2013, Ireland's allrounder John Mooney was suspended for three matches over a shocking comment he made on social media following the death of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Mooney had controversially posted a tweet in which he said that he hoped the former prime minister's death had been "slow and painful”. The comment was deleted after intervention from Cricket Ireland. Releasing a statement, Cricket Ireland said:
"John Mooney has been severely reprimanded by Cricket Ireland and handed a three-match suspension following his tweet regarding the death of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher."
Mooney, who scored the winning runs in Ireland's famous win over England at the 2011 World Cup, also issued an apology over the social media post.
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