Historic tweets put Mccullum in spotlight
New Zealand cricketing great Brendon Mccullum has found himself caught up in the historic tweets saga that is plaguing England cricket.
England quick Ollie Robinson has been suspended indefinitely after historic tweets – from when he was a teenager in 2012-14 – which included sexist and racist messages, resurfaced on day one of his test debut at Lord’s last week.
The England Cricket Board has since begun an investigation into other historic tweets, including some from senior players Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler, which allegedly mock Indians’ use of the English language, dating back to 2017.
According to Crictracker. com, Mccullum allegedly replied to a 2018 tweet from Morgan, celebrating the batting of Buttler, that appeared to make fun of Indian fans using the English language.
‘‘Sir, you’re my favorite batsman,’’ Morgan wrote to Buttler, according to screenshots posted on the Crictracker report.
It also showed a tweet that allegedly came from Mccullum’s account that said: ‘‘josbuttler Sir, you play very good Opening batting.’’
Mccullum, who has recently been announced as the face of new nationwide sports radio network SENZ, which will begin broadcasting later this year, is the coach of IPL franchise the Kolkata Knight Riders, and Morgan one of its star players.
Kolkata Knight Riders chief executive Venky Mysore told the Cricbuzz website they did not yet know enough about the situation to comment.
‘‘Let’s wait for the process to be completed to get all the facts before we jump to any conclusions. Just to reiterate, the Knight Riders organisation has ‘zero tolerance’ for any sort of discrimination,’’ Mysore said.
Stuff has sought comment from Mccullum through a SENZ spokeswoman in the past two days, but has been unable to reach the former New Zealand captain. SENZ had not responded at time of publication.
In an earlier exchange in 2017, Buttler wrote: ‘‘Well done on double 100 much beauty batting you are on fire sir.
‘‘I always reply sir no1 else like me like you (sic),’’ in an exchange that appears to be celebrating an innings from Alex Hale.
The Twitter thread has resurfaced – with Buttler’s tweets now deleted from the conversation – earlier this month with the ECB tagged into it.
‘‘Shame on you, one Twitter commentator wrote as they tagged in the ECB last week.
‘‘These guys should learn to respect innocent fans, who give them more love and respect than they deserve, ungrateful bunch,’’ another Twitter commentator said.
‘‘Shame on you man, seriously!@ecb_cricket please look into this,’’ another Twitter user wrote.
Black Caps swing bowler Trent Boult – who returned for the second test against England – did not think the historic texts saga would be a distraction to the England squad, who are missing Robinson.
‘‘These guys have played a lot of cricket. Jimmy Anderson 162 tests, I think he can put aside a few things on the sideline and focus on the game,’’ Boult said.
When asked if sportspeople needed more awareness and care when using social media, Boult said the internet could be a difficult world for them to traverse.
‘‘In terms of our profession as sportspeople, you’re in the limelight non-stop so, yes, you have to be careful about what you’re putting out there. We’re obviously role models to a lot of kids and a lot of fans around the world and have a lot of accountability. It’s a tricky one but you definitely do have to be careful,’’ Boult said.