Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed with Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden's assessment that the suspension of England seamer Ollie Robinson for historical racist and sexist tweets was "over the top".

Robinson, 27, issued an apology for social media posts he wrote in 2012 and 2013, when he was in his late teens, that were unearthed and shared online on the day he made his Test bow versus New Zealand at Lord's last week.

He has been indefinitely suspended pending a disciplinary investigation by the England and Wales Cricket Board, which drew a surprising rebuke from Secretary of State Dowden, who waded into the matter on Monday morning.

Bess, who took 12 wickets in the series win in Sri Lanka at the start of the year before struggling for consistency in India, should be able to train with England from Wednesday after 48 hours of managed isolation.

"Jack's absolutely fine," Silverwood added. "The reason we've added Dom is that any cover we may need has to be in here with us.

"If Jack was to feature, we would need back-up for him, in terms of concussion replacements and things like that. If we are looking at a spinner and Jack gets injured leading into it, then we will need someone else there."

Meanwhile, England's players have been fined 40 per cent of their match fees by the International Cricket Council for maintaining a slow over-rate in the first Test, finishing two overs short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration.