England call up Tom Kohler-Cadmore, whose lewd and degrading WhatsApp boasts were used in rape trial, ahead of World Cup
ENGLAND have called up Tom Kohler-Cadmore – the batsman whose WhatsApp boasts about his sexual conquests were used in a rape trial.
Kohler-Cadmore, 29, is in England’s squad for their final two one-day internationals against Ireland on Saturday and next Tuesday.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore has been called up to the England ODI squadGetty
PA:Press AssociationHis messages were used in Alex Hepburn’s trial for rape[/caption]
In January 2019, he and former Worcestershire team-mate Joe Clarke were suspended for a time from England selection.
Their lewd and degrading messages in the WhatsApp group were used in evidence in court in the trial of another former team-mate, Alex Hepburn, who was found guilty of rape and jailed for five years after a retrial.
Kohler-Cadmore and Clarke were cleared of criminal wrongdoing but were reprimanded by the ECB, fined £2,000 and withdrawn from an England Lions tour of India.
Kohler-Cadmore apologised and was ordered to attend sexual consent training. He was chosen for a Lions tour of Australia in 2020 but this is the first time he or Clarke has been selected for the full England team.
Clarke now plays for Nottinghamshire.
Kohler-Cadmore left Worcestershire for Yorkshire but departed when his father, Mick, a dressing-room attendant at Headingley, resigned in protest at the sacking of backroom staff in the wake of the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.
He then moved to Somerset, where he has found contentment and enjoyed a reasonable season although he has not played a 50-over match since 2019.
Kohler-Cadmore gets his chance because Jason Roy has turned down the chance to play against Ireland.
GettyJason Roy rejected the chance to play against Ireland[/caption]
Roy, dumped from England’s World Cup squad at the last minute with Harry Brook chosen instead, now seems likely to reject the offer to be a reserve.
Joe Root did not get the chance to find form in the first match at Headingley on Wednesday because the game was washed out.
But he will not play in either of the final two games and will instead rest and fly to India for the tournament with the rest of the squad on September 27.
