England wipe slate clean as Ollie returns
England have welcomed Ollie Robinson back to the Test squad at the first opportunity after his suspension for historic offensive tweets.
The Sussex seam bowler was yesterday named in a 17-man squad for the first two Tests against India next month, with England confirming they consider the controversy over the decade-old racist and sexist posts now closed.
Robinson’s Test debut against new Zealand at lord’s earlier this season was marred by the emergence of the tweets, sent when he was 18 and 19, that forced him into a public apology after his first day as an England player.
The 27-year-old went on to take seven wickets in the Test and show promise with the bat in making 42, but was left out of the second match against the Kiwis, and Robinson (below) was then banned for eight games, with five of them suspended by the Cricket disciplinary Commission.
England made no mention of the suspension when they announced another enlarged squad, but coach Chris Silverwood said: ‘Ollie proved in that Test he has the ability to replicate his outstanding form in the County Championship at international level, and we will continue to work with him to develop his England career.’
Ben Stokes, who returned to captain a makeshift England 50-over squad to victory over Pakistan earlier this month, is back in the squad — even though he was left out of the Twenty20 series against Pakistan because his broken finger has not fully healed.
and there are also places for Jonny Bairstow, Jos Buttler and Sam Curran, all rested for the new Zealand series because of IPl commitments, with the Welsh Fire Hundred side now hastily needing to find a replacement captain for Bairstow.
It is too soon for Jofra archer, who England now hope may be fit enough to feature towards the end of the five-match series after returning from elbow surgery to play for Sussex, while the desperately unfortunate Chris Woakes misses out with a heel injury.
Ollie Pope is included even though, as Sportsmail revealed on Tuesday, he is struggling to be fit for the first Test on august 4 with a thigh injury. That could pave the way for dan lawrence to replace him at Trent Bridge.
There is also a place for Haseeb Hameed, who can put pressure on the under-performing dom Sibley and Zak Crawley for a place in the top three, especially after hitting 112 yesterday for the County Select XI who are playing India in a warm-up match. But dawid Malan’s hopes of forcing his way back into the Test squad before this winter’s ashes suffered a setback with his exclusion.
Malan was at least given a vote of confidence after England’s thrilling victory over Pakistan at Emirates Old Trafford on Tuesday by his Twenty20 captain Eoin Morgan.
Malan struggled to make an impact throughout a three-match series won 2-1 by England and spent 33 balls in making 31 in the last-over win in Manchester. and with liam livingstone making a formidable case for inclusion in England’s side for October’s T20 World Cup by becoming player of the series against Pakistan, the pressure is back on the world’s no 1 ranked T20 batsman.
But Morgan, who will name his provisional World Cup squad in September, could not have been more effusive about Malan yesterday when he said: ‘I see dawid playing a massive role in our team. Just because he’s had a quiet series doesn’t mean he’s not a good player.
‘He’s done exceptional things for us over a long period and this match actually suited his game because he can go through the gears, and the bulk of our side can’t.’
England’s Test stars will all be allowed to play two games for their Hundred sides before reporting to a training camp on July 31, a week before the first Test of the marquee series against India.