Ben White England selection: Brighton star always destined for the top but tough on Lewis Dunk

Ian Hart: So, on the back of England’s 1-0 victory against Romania last Sunday, the Albion’s 100 per cent England success rate continues.
Ben White is only the second Brighton player to be selected by England for a major international tournamentBen White is only the second Brighton player to be selected by England for a major international tournament
Ben White is only the second Brighton player to be selected by England for a major international tournament

Every Brighton player to ever pull on an England shirt, Tommy Cook, Peter Ward, Steve Foster, Lewis Dunk and now Ben White have always ended up on the winning side, is there any other club in the country that has this high a success rate?

No doubt a statto very close by will be in touch.

And after Sunday’s game, White (above) was called up to the final 26-man England squad for the upcoming Euro’s, capping an amazing first season as an Albion first teamer.

Ollie Robinson's England debut turned to a nightmareOllie Robinson's England debut turned to a nightmare
Ollie Robinson's England debut turned to a nightmare
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Without taking anything away from White, who clearly was always destined to play at international level, to reiterate what I said a couple weeks ago in this column: the overwhelming majority of Albion fans, whilst celebrating Ben’s success, will have a huge amount of sympathy for Albion skipper Lewis Dunk.

But, as always, it is a game of opinions, and for whatever reason Gareth Southgate clearly doesn’t rate him.

As for England’s chances, in what is effectively a ‘home’ tournament for them now, whilst expectation will always weigh them down, with the squad we have available even without “Hayley Cropper” until the knockout stages, I will be disappointed if England don’t reach at least the last four.

First the ecstasy – and now the agony...with news that Sussex bowler Ollie Robinson has been banned for the next Test match because of offensive tweets he made nine years ago.

Talk about overkill and a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

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I would take England’s skipper Joe Root’s public condemnation of the tweets as nothing more than lip service at the behest of his bosses.

Nine years ago Robinson (right) was an immature teenager with little or no real-life experience, but the authorities choose to judge him in the present day for things he did that long ago.

A better idea would have been for an ECB member of staff with social media experience to have been given access to Robinson’s accounts when he was selected and carried out a simple editing and deleting exercise which would have averted the furore.

My views on social media are well documented and this latest episode highlights how some facets of political correctness have no place in a civilised society.