British Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed comments from culture and sports secretary Oliver Dowden that England pacer Ollie Robinson's suspension over historical discriminatory posts was "over the top".
Robinson had an impressive debut in the first Test at Lord's against New Zealand that ended in a draw on Sunday, picking up seven wickets in the match and scoring a crucial 42 in the first innings.
However, tweets posted by Robinson in 2012 and 2013 resurfaced on the day of his debut. He apologised for his actions but the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have decided to suspend him from all international cricket pending an investigation.
However, culture secretary Dowden believes the ECB need to "think again" regarding the sanction for the 27-year-old.
"Ollie Robinson's tweets were offensive and wrong," Dowden said on Twitter. "They are also a decade old and written by a teenager.
"The teenager is now a man and has rightly apologised. The ECB has gone over the top by suspending him and should think again."
Mr Johnson supported Dowden's position. "As Oliver Dowden set out, these were comments made more than a decade ago written by someone as a teenager and for which they've rightly apologised," said a spokesperson for the Prime Minister.
Robinson, in a statement issued on Wednesday, said he was ashamed of his actions.
"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," Robinson had said.
"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."
After the Test finished, England captain Joe Root said Robinson had some lessons to learn.
"It's not acceptable within our game – we all know that," Root said. "He has dealt with a huge array of emotions over this last week and he has got to learn some hard lessons.
"He addressed the dressing room, and media outlets, straight away, he fronted up to it. He showed a lot of remorse from that point onwards."
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Karnatake Tuskers 114-1 (10 ovs)
Charles 57, Amla 47
Bangla Tigers 117-5 (8.5 ovs)
Fletcher 40, Moores 28 no, Lamichhane 2-9
Bangla Tiger win by five wickets
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Day 1 at Mount Maunganui
England 241-4
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Zakat definitions
Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.
Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.
Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.
Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
