Lancashire launch investigation into alleged offensive tweets by players
It comes after historic racist and sexist posts by Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson emerged
Last updated 11th Jun 2021
Lancashire have started an "immediate review and investigation'' into allegations of offensive tweets by their players.
Since historic racist and sexist posts by Sussex seamer Ollie Robinson emerged during his Test debut last week, the social media feeds of a number of internationals have been scrutinised and the England and Wales Cricket Board is currently looking into the cases on an individual basis.
Now the Red Rose county have taken action of their own after the Lancashire Telegraph reported what it called discriminatory'' content on the Twitter feeds of Alex Davies, Liam Hurt, Luke Wells, Josh Bohannon and Richard Gleeson. A spokesperson for the club confirmed to the PA news agency that all five were now being probed.
Daniel Gidney, chief executive of Lancashire Cricket, said: "Lancashire Cricket strongly condemns the use of any discriminatory language or behaviour by any member of the club's players or staff at any point in time.
"We abhor all forms of discrimination which, as a club, we find totally unacceptable. We are currently undertaking an immediate review and investigation and the relevant information has been referred to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). We will respond in due course, but the club won't be making any further comment at this time.''
The ECB, which has yet to announce its next steps with regard to Robinson, issued its own statement.
It read: "We want cricket to be inclusive and welcoming to all, and there is no place for discrimination. First-class counties have their own processes for dealing with allegations relating to their players, and the ECB also has established processes for considering matters such as these when referred to us.
"As well as introducing a new Anti-Discrimination Code of Conduct across cricket this year to supplement our existing regulations in the professional game, we have also worked with the Professional Cricketers' Association to put in place an education programme for players to help ensure our sport can be the game for everyone we want it to be.''