English cricketers cannot use Twitter and Facebook while on national duty

According to the Daily Mail report on Sunday, England cricket players cannot post message on their social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook during their matches. They have been put this ban by the team management. England captain, Andrew Strauss, has shown his strong agreement with team management to write a clause in the new central contracts for 2010-11 banning players from tweeting while on England duty.

Four England players- Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Kevin Pietersen and Steven Finn are very popular on their Twitter sites as have nearly almost 150,000 followers between them. Players said that their social network activities are a "harmless diversion". It seems that team management has taken this decision so that cricketers can concentrate more on practice and performances while they are on international duty.

However, team management is worried thinking about that dressing room secrets will be exposed to the rest of the world through social networking sites. Former England U-19 captain, Azeem Rafiq, put himself under immense criticism because of his insulting message that he sent on his site against the coach, John Abrahams, following his drop from the Sri Lanka tour. He was fined 500 pounds and banned from cricket for one month.

The Professional Cricketers' Association has talked in favor of Twitter arguing that existing regulations are enough.

Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are becoming the most popular way for branding for international cricketers. With the use of social networking site, they can attract sponsors. However, it can be used to express something that is needed to keep secret.