OLLIE ROBINSON is to take a break from cricket to escape the fall-out from his Twitter storm.
All-rounder Robinson, 27, is suspended from the Second Test pending an investigation into offensive posts he made while a teenager.
He was available to play for Sussex – but has chosen to miss the county’s T20 Blast matches against Gloucestershire and Hampshire on Friday and Saturday.
A Sussex spokesman said: “After a difficult week, Ollie has decided to take a short break from the game to spend time with his young family.
“Player and staff welfare – including mental health and wellbeing – is a priority for the club and Sussex fully support Ollie in his decision.
“When he is ready to return, Ollie will be welcomed back to the club, where he retains the support of all his team-mates.
“Ollie’s tweets were completely unacceptable but he is a very different man from the one that wrote those tweets and has clearly learned much in the intervening years.
“He has made clear the shame, embarrassment and remorse he feels for the discriminatory comments he made.”
TWEETS UNCOVERED AFTER ‘MOMENT OF UNITY’
Robinson’s decade-old tweets were particularly embarrassing for England as they were uncovered after players had a “moment of unity” before day-one action began in the First Test.
They wore T-shirts rejecting discrimination, including racism and sexism.
Robinson apologised in public and to the England team, adding that he did not realise the posts were still on his timeline.
He said: “On the biggest day of my career so far, I am embarrassed by the racist and sexist tweets that I posted over eight years ago which have today become public.
“I want to make it clear that I’m not racist and I’m not sexist. I deeply regret my actions and I am ashamed of making such remarks.
“I was thoughtless and irresponsible and, regardless of my state of mind at the time, my actions were inexcusable. Since that period, I have matured as a person and fully regret the tweets.”
