"He was very remorseful, embarrassed and regretted what he'd done" - England's James Anderson on Ollie Robinson tweet saga
England cricket went through quite a storm at the start of this month. Not only did they lose a Test series at home for the first time since 2014, but they also drew flak from all quarters after pacer Ollie Robinson’s age-old 'racist' and 'sexist' tweets, which he had posted as a teenager, surfaced.
While the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) handed the 27-year-old a suspension from all international cricket, questions were raised over the upbringing of English cricketers and the overall structure. England’s senior-most Test player James Anderson acknowledged Robinson’s mistake and revealed that a system is being put in place to “educate people”.
“He [Robinson] spoke to the group and was very remorseful, embarrassed and regretted what he’d done. We’re doing everything we can to make sure we get educated. We’ve doing workshops with the Professional Cricketers’ Association, trying to educate people as we move forward as a team," James Anderson said on BBC podcast ‘Tailenders’.
“We’ve realised as international sportsmen we’ve got a platform and we should be using it in the right way. We’ll keep learning and trying to get better as people, and that’s all we can do,” he added.
It was a fall from grace for Ollie Robinson. He was handed an England debut at Lord’s and impressed one and all with his performance – he picked up 7 wickets and scored 42 runs – before being sanctioned by the board. He was suspended from international cricket, but returned to Sussex's Second XI against Hampshire on June 15.
England are not quite where we think they are, admits James Anderson
Be it the social media furore or the absence of some key players, England just didn’t seem up to the mark in the two-Test affair versus New Zealand. James Anderson acknowledged the frailties, saying there were barely any positives from the series.
“I’m trying to think of some positives to take out of the series, but there’s really not that many. There were a couple of notable performances, but we were a bit off. It was a real wake-up call for us as a team. We’re not quite where we think we are. We just weren’t good enough and New Zealand were great,” Anderson explained.
While rain led to the first Test ending in a stalemate, the Kiwis came hard at England in Birmingham to win in three and half days and reclaim the No. 1 spot in Tests. The series win was the Black Caps' first in England since 1999, while Joe Root’s boys suffered a home series defeat in the longest format for the first time since going 0-1 down against Sri Lanka in 2014.
It was a landmark moment in Jimmy Anderson’s already-storied career when the 38-year-old went past Sir Alastair Cook as England’s most-capped Test player. But the 162-Test veteran had a rather bland outing as he scalped just three wickets across four innings.
“For me, personally I didn’t have enough cricket going in. I bowled 24 overs for Lancashire before it, which again is not an excuse – it’s just not ideal preparation. I felt rusty and then felt great on the last day, when they needed 37 to win. Now I‘ve got three weeks off,” Anderson, who has the most Test wickets (617) among fast bowlers, added.
England will face another tough challenge, this time from India, as the two nations lock horns in a five-Test series starting August 4. The series will be part of the 2021-23 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.