Swann apologises for rape comment

Graeme Swann has apologised after admitting making "crass and thoughtless" comments via social media.

Swann, who has endured a miserable series, equated England's Ashes defeat to Australia with being raped. That led to widespread condemnation and a subsequent apology and retraction from Swann.

The comments were made after Swann posted a reply to his brother's status update on Facebook. Replying to a posting from Alec Swann, the former Northamptonshire and Lancashire batsman who had attended a gig by the band Shed Seven, Graeme Swann wrote: "Rather have been there than being a**e raped in Perth!"

The remarks, which were publicly visible on Alec Swann's Facebook page, soon spread far and wide and were quickly condemned.

Yvonne Traynor, the chief executive of Rape Crisis, told the Daily Telegraph: "We are appalled that Graeme Swann equates a cricket match with the devastatingly serious crime of rape. It is the duty of a people in the public eye to make sure that their own distorted views are kept to themselves and not shared with the general public. These comments lack compassion and intelligence and he should apologise to anyone who has suffered from this heinous crime."

Swann took to Twitter to issue an apology. "Sorry to anyone who was offended by my comments in the papers today," he posted. "Crass and thoughtless of me in the extreme."

The ECB subsequently confirmed that they will take no action against Swann and that he made the apology of his own volition.