ECB to take 'appropriate action' over England players' historical tweets as more emerge

The England and Wales Cricket Board says it will take "relevant and appropriate action" after historical tweets from several England players were "questioned publicly".

On Sunday, the ECB suspended bowler Ollie Robinson from international cricket pending an investigation into tweets posted in 2012 and 2013.

It then said it was looking into reports a second England player posted historical "offensive material", before tweets by Eoin Morgan, James Anderson and Jos Buttler were highlighted.

An ECB spokesperson said: "Since we were alerted to offensive tweets last week, a number of historical social media posts by other individuals have been questioned publicly as well.

"There is no place for discrimination in our sport, and we are committed to taking relevant and appropriate action where required.

"Given the concerns which have been raised are clearly now broader than a single case, the ECB board will discuss how we deal with issues over historical social media material in a timely and appropriate manner. Each case will be considered on an individual basis, looking at all the facts."

Robinson, 27, was dropped from the squad for the second Test against New Zealand, which begins on Thursday at Edgbaston, and left the England camp to return to his county, Sussex.

On Tuesday, Wisden said it uncovered a tweet containing a racist term but had "obscured" the identity of the player, who was under 16 when it was posted.

Following Robinson's suspension, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "supportive" of Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden saying the ECB had "gone over the top" and should "think again".

His intervention has been criticised as "unwelcome" by former England batsman Mark Ramprakash.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, Ramprakash added: "I've heard people express sort of sympathy with Ollie Robinson, and say 'hasn't he shown a lot of character?', but I haven't heard enough about the victims or the people that these tweets are aimed at.

"How do they feel? Where is the sympathy for those people? They are UK citizens, a lot of them.

"We live in a diverse society and we really don't want this behaviour."