England will make another public stand against discrimination ahead of Thursday’s second Test against New Zealand before attempting to win back attention for their on-field exploits rather than their off-field indiscretions.
Last week’s draw at Lord’s was largely overshadowed by the emergence of historical racist and sexist tweets from debutant Ollie Robinson, with the issue spiralling in recent days as a number of other players have found their social media feeds placed under the microscope.
The England and Wales Cricket Board, which has already suspended Robinson pending an investigation, has resolved to assess each case as it attempts to live up to its publicly-stated standards of inclusivity but captain Joe Root has settled on his own response.
“We’re all very aware we’re in the entertainment business,” he said.
“We all want to be part of those games, those special games that provide that entertainment. If the opportunities arise we’ll definitely look to be aggressive. I don’t want us to be considered a negative team who play a boring brand of cricket.
“It will be great to have (that many) people in, enjoying the sport again in pretty much a full house. It’s something we’ve missed as a side and are very much looking forward to.”
New Zealand will be captained by Tom Latham after Root’s usual opposite number, world number one batsman Kane Williamson, opted to rest an elbow injury ahead of next week’s World Test Championship final.
