England cricketer Ollie Robinson has apologised “unreservedly” for a number of racist and sexist messages he posted on Twitter in 2012.

The fast bowler, who also plays for Sussex County Cricket Club, added he is “ashamed” of the tweets he posted as an 18-year-old.

The cricketer made disparaging remarks about Asian people and women in the tweets, which have resurfaced on the day he made his England Test debut.

Robinson told Sky Sports after day one of the first Test against New Zealand today: “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.

“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.”

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.”

Robinson went on to say that today should have been about his “efforts on the field” but his “thoughtless behaviour in the past has tarnished this”.

He added that he had “worked hard” to turn his life around “over the past few years” and had “considerably matured as an adult”.

Robinson’s statement continues: “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.

“I 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.

“I will continue to educate myself, look for advice and work with the support network that is available to me to learn more about getting better in this area. I am sorry, and I have certainly learned my lesson today.”

Before today’s match the England and New Zealand players took part in a “moment of unity” to show their collective determination to end discrimination in cricket.

The players and match officials stood in silence on the outfield, facing the pavilion, with the England side in T-shirts that incorporated anti-discrimination messages on their front and back.

Nasser Hussain, a former British Indian cricketer who captained the England team, said he hoped the emergence of Robinson’s tweets would serve as a stark warning to others.

He said: “If you are going to wear T-shirts about online hate and online abuse and sexism and racism, that you can’t be doing this; it’s just not good enough, it’s just not on.

“But I also think we are probably a bit of a cruel society if we don’t realise that an 18-year-old does make mistakes and he has made mistakes and he’s made it horribly wrong and he’s fronted up.

“It does not make it right in any way; I’ve read the tweets, I’ve seen the tweets, they are horrible, they are not right and you should never say those things whether you are 18 or 28.”

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