Michael Vaughan lauds Ollie Robinson's on-field performances despite off-field issues

Former skipper Michael Vaughan has come forward and lauded Ollie Robinson's remarkable performances on the cricket field despite controversies off it as he made an impact straight away with the ball in hand on his debut during the ongoing first Test match against New Zealand at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground.

'Ollie Robinson's debut is as impressive as we have seen': Michael Vaughan

Taking to the micro-blogging site, Michael Vaughan wrote that if one looks at just on-field cricket matters then Ollie Robinson's debut is as impressive as one has seen for a long time for England. The cricketer-turned-cricket pundit concluded by saying that the emerging pacer looks a player one should see a lot more of going forward.

Michael Vaughan's tweet evoked mixed reactions on social media. Here are some of them.

What happened to Ollie Robinson?

England pacer Ollie Robinson made his international debut in the ongoing first Test vs New Zealand at the Lord's in London. The Sussex quick delivered immediately as he registered figures of 4/75 from his 28 overs which helped the hosts restrict New Zealand to 378. However, despite having a memorable debut, Robinson could not bask in the glory of his success as he made the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

After Stumps on Day 1, a series of Ollie Robinson's controversial tweets of sexist and racist nature from 2012 emerged on Twitter and went viral in no time. Ollie Robinson's tweets stirred a huge controversy and the debutant had to face a lot of flak from all parts of the cricketing fraternity. The Ollie Robinson cricketer controversy blew out of proportion which made the 27-year old bowler issue an apology.

"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", Ollie Robinson was quoted as saying by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on their official website.

"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. Today should be about my efforts on the field and the pride of making my Test debut for England, but my thoughtless behavior in the past has tarnished this" he added.

"I would like to unreservedly apologise to anyone I have offended, my teammates and the game as a whole in what has been a day of action and awareness in combatting discrimination from our sport.  don’t want something that happened eight years ago to diminish the efforts of my teammates and the ECB as they continue to build meaningful action with their comprehensive initiatives and efforts, which I fully endorse and support", he further added.

Now, reports have emerged that Robinson is set to be dropped from England's playing XI for Eng vs NZ 2nd Test irrespective of his performance at Lord's. According to a report by The Telegraph, Robinson may be dropped from the second Test against the Kiwis at Edgbaston. It is worth mentioning that England and New Zealand cricketers shared a ‘Moment of Unity’ before the start of the Lord's Test which is why the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) isn't taking the matter leniently and is investigating the matter as questions are being raised about the board's seriousness about the existing discrimination issue in the game.