England Cricket 2021

[littlebabyjesus]

It's pretty sad. He's just had a fine debut. Outbowled Anderson and Broad. Being suspended over something he tweeted nine years ago before he signed professional papers is a bit of a strange one for me. Tabloids got their headlines, which is ultimately why this has happened.

 

[SpookyFrank]

It's pretty sad. He's just had a fine debut. Outbowled Anderson and Broad. Being suspended over something he tweeted nine years ago before he signed professional papers is a bit of a strange one for me. Tabloids got their headlines, which is ultimately why this has happened.

Maybe it'll be a lesson to the next fuckwit.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Anyway, what could have been a classic was ruined by the weather ultimately. It was a surprising declaration to me. In a way it suggests that Williamson doesn't think all that much of England's batting line-up. He's probably got a point.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Anyway, what could have been a classic was ruined by the weather ultimately. It was a surprising declaration to me. In a way it suggests that Williamson doesn't think all that much of England's batting line-up. He's probably got a point.

I don't think England think much of their batting line up tbh or they would have at least tried to take it on.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I don't think England think much of their batting line up tbh or they would have at least tried to take it on.

Indeed. It's probably something all of us can agree on.

ETA: I can kind of see the justification in not going for it, though. and unlike TMS, I wasn't surprised that they shut up shop. They might have thought that allowing Sibley to dig himself underground for five hours was more beneficial in the long run.

 

[paulhackett]

If the ECB ban people for something they wrote 9 years ago, they'll have to ban a lot of people - players, support staff, back office, media..

 

[littlebabyjesus]

If the ECB ban people for something they wrote 9 years ago, they'll have to ban a lot of people - players, support staff, back office, media..

The press aspect of this is depressing - sitting on it until his debut so that the could fuck him up and get a story is just nasty. But self-righteousness from the ECB over historical racism is also hard to stomach.

 

[MrSki]

If he didn't get a ban then what message would that send? He was an adult when the wrote those tweets & will have to suffer for that. Don't know what his views are now but he expressed those then so that is all there is to go on.

Agree is was a press stitch-up though & should have come out sooner.

 

[planetgeli]

It was a good declaration. Only two teams at Lords have scored 270+ to win a test and this England batting line up wasn't going to be the third. He might not have declared like that against Greenidge and Haynes opening but this was Sibley and Burns. He knew that meant slow runs or early wickets, either or both of which mean a chase is never going to happen.

Well played Sibley. He's got runs when it really matters more than once now.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Back on the Robinson issue, I'd forgotten that he was sacked by Yorkshire back in 2014 for acting unprofessionally. These tweets predate that. He clearly was a bit of a dick in his youth. But this stuff at Yorkshire happened after the tweets. It reflects very poorly on the ECB as well, I think, if they're suspending him now for something he did before he was sacked for unprofessional conduct. All these high-minded words about how he needs to educate himself etc. But he was in trouble back in 2014, not this year. What did they do about it then?

 

[kabbes]

I suspect the motivation for the suspension may well be the opposite of high-minded. It provides a way for the ECB to say, “look, we’ve punished him, now we can all forget about it and move on”. For the sake of him missing a few matches, it can all now be swept under the carpet. He even gains a bit of sympathy from those who think the punishment was unduly harsh. The alternative is that he continues to be perceived as unpunished and it keeps on being brought up every time he is picked.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I suspect the motivation for the suspension may well be the opposite of high-minded. It provides a way for the ECB to say, “look, we’ve punished him, now we can all forget about it and move on”. For the sake of him missing a few matches, it can all now be swept under the carpet. He even gains a bit of sympathy from those who think the punishment was unduly harsh. The alternative is that he continues to be perceived as unpunished and it keeps on being brought up every time he is picked.

There is another alternative, which is that the ECB itself admits some fault. But that's not going to happen - see also the flat denials that they ever did anything wrong towards John Holder. They're massively anti-racist, and they always have been.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

I think it's very much a token punishment tbh, it's being seen to be doing something more than anything. Like kabbes said it's about sweeping it under the carpet - I suspect they'd be happy to take a look at Stone or Overton in the next game anyway seeing as the ECB doesn't really seem to see a series against one of the world's top ranked sides as something to take too seriously.

I'm not really sure of the alternatives though. Writing him off as a racist and casting him out would clearly be ridiculous over some dumb tweets from nearly a decade ago. Ignoring it isn't really on and would just be a different sort of attempt to sweep it under the carpet anyway. So maybe the token punishment actually is the way to go here.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I think it's very much a token punishment tbh, it's being seen to be doing something more than anything. Like kabbes said it's about sweeping it under the carpet - I suspect they'd be happy to take a look at Stone or Overton in the next game anyway seeing as the ECB doesn't really seem to see a series against one of the world's top ranked sides as something to take too seriously.

I'm not really sure of the alternatives though. Writing him off as a racist and casting him out would clearly be ridiculous over some dumb tweets from nearly a decade ago. Ignoring it isn't really on and would just be a different sort of attempt to sweep it under the carpet anyway. So maybe the token punishment actually is the way to go here.

Fair enough. Or it would be fair enough if the token punishment were combined with the ECB actually facing up to how shit it has been over recent decades wrt racism in cricket. It would be fair enough if the ECB were not in the process right now of flat-out denying any wrongdoing wrt complaints of racism from two umpires and stories from the likes of Devon Malcolm wrt his attempts to become an umpire. This isn't ancient history either - it's from not that long before Robinson's tweets.

 

[Wilf]

That cunt Dowden weighs in:

Boris Johnson joins Oliver Dowden in ECB criticism over Ollie Robinson

The prime minister and the sports minister have both criticised the England and Wales Cricket Board’s decision to suspend the bowler Ollie Robinson

www.theguardian.com

I have a twinge about people getting suspended from work for non-work related things, though if it's someone getting getting done for non-work related racism I'll tune up the tiny violin. Suppose most of all, don't look to hypocrites such as the Premiere League and cricket authorities to lead the fight against racism.

 

[Petcha]

I think it's very much a token punishment tbh, it's being seen to be doing something more than anything. Like kabbes said it's about sweeping it under the carpet - I suspect they'd be happy to take a look at Stone or Overton in the next game anyway seeing as the ECB doesn't really seem to see a series against one of the world's top ranked sides as something to take too seriously.

I'm not really sure of the alternatives though. Writing him off as a racist and casting him out would clearly be ridiculous over some dumb tweets from nearly a decade ago. Ignoring it isn't really on and would just be a different sort of attempt to sweep it under the carpet anyway. So maybe the token punishment actually is the way to go here.

In lieu of taking the knee, the ECB committed to lining up before each game this summer wearing t-shirts saying 'cricket against islamophobia' 'cricket against sexism' etc while some earnest message is read out. I don't quite see how they could wheel out this guy wearing such a t-shirt again.

 

[Petcha]

His tweets are definitely on the lower end of the scale anyway. The sort of shit a lot of 18yos come out with and then they grow up. I actually feel sorry for him. Some bastard must have been sitting on that for 9 years on the off-chance he ever played for England. And released it while he still on the pitch celebrating his first couple of wickets and the biggest day of his and probably his family's life.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

In lieu of taking the knee, the ECB committed to lining up before each game this summer wearing t-shirts saying 'cricket against islamophobia' 'cricket against sexism' etc while some earnest message is read out. I don't quite see how they could wheel out this guy wearing such a t-shirt again.

Course they could. And whatever their other faults they'd be right to do so IMO. 'Once a racist always a racist' would be a much worse message to send out.

 

[Petcha]

Course they could. And whatever their other faults they'd be right to do so IMO. 'Once a racist always a racist' would be a much worse message to send out.

Good point. They could actually spin it quite well. Reformed character etc. He could be the poster boy.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Course they could. And whatever their other faults they'd be right to do so IMO. 'Once a racist always a racist' would be a much worse message to send out.

This is part of the problem with this particular case, of course. Assuming Robinson forgot he ever made those tweets, which I think is likely, he might reasonably say, 'That's horrible, yes, I agree. I did say dumb shit like that then, but I don't now and I learned that lesson some years ago.'

Craig Overton was treated less harshly for something he did that was much worse (racist shit said against an opposition player in a professional game) - he got some demerit points and a one-match ban as a result of the points, and that was about it in terms of punishment. And Overton's offence came a while after what Robinson did. Let's hope the ECB is more clued up now than it was in the Overton case. I'm not overly confident that it is. I agree with a previous poster that there is no little irony in the fact that Overton is Robinson's likely replacement.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

It’s unlikely Overton will be given a game as Stokes is available and Leach is likely to get the nod. They’ll want one 90mph bowler so if Wood is rested then Ollie Stone will be played. Then Jimmy and Broad, who are due some wickets.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Stokes isn't available. He's making his comeback in the T20 next week.

Leach will play, I would think, but that just makes a bowler who can bat a bit even more important. I won't be surprised to see one of Broad or Anderson left out, possibly Anderson. Stone may well also come in for Wood. But a line-up with Stone or Broad, or even Leach, at no.8, with that batting lineup above them? Risky. As I said before the series started, the 'resting' IPL player that England could really do with is Moeen Ali.

As ever, the batting's failing but it's the bowlers who get changed.

 

[Argonia]

I love Leach. Anyone who plays in glasses gets my vote.

 

[planetgeli]

Stone will play, logically anyway, as it's his home ground. Agree about the potentially weak tail. It'll go nicely with the potentially weak everything else.

That was Broad's first wicket in 81 overs btw. But both he and Anderson have good records at Edgbaston.

 

[RileyOBlimey]

Wisden has found more racism posted by a current England player when they were a teenager… Another Historic Racist Tweet Posted By Current England Player Emerges

 

[RileyOBlimey]

It wouldn’t be very hard to identify them with the info provided.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Under 16 at the time so probably legal issues wrt revealing the name. And some ethical issues about publishing it even without the name.

 

[Spymaster]

Are they really going to try to fuck someone's career because of something they posted as a child?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Disappointed by both Wisden and cricinfo for reporting that, tbh. Grubby.

 

[planetgeli]

It's almost like the ECB, the whole Establishment, doesn't have a fucking clue isn't it? Apparently some of them wanted Robinson pulled off the pitch on day one.

This going after 16 year olds enables the "PC gone mad" brigade, which in turn enables racism itself. As I said, they don't have a fucking clue.

("But, but, we print t-shirts and everything??")