LANCASHIRE County Cricket Club has launched an ‘immediate investigation’ after discriminatory historical tweets on several of its players' accounts came to light, the Lancashire Telegraph can exclusively reveal.

More than 50 tweets, dating back to 2011, were found to contain racist, homophobic, anti-disability or misogynistic content.

The offending material was posted on the accounts of Darwen-born Alex Davies, 26, Liam Hurt, Luke Wells, Josh Bohannon and Richard Gleeson several years ago but the tweets were removed after the club was contacted by the Lancashire Telegraph.

Davies, Hurt and Bohannon were all under 18 when the tweets were posted but they had been left on their accounts until this week.

The Lancashire Telegraph has screenshots of the tweets but has chosen not to publish them because of their offensive nature.

Daniel Gidney, chief executive at Lancashire Cricket, said: “Lancashire Cricket strongly condemns the use of any discriminatory language or behaviour by any member of the club’s players or staff at any point in time.

“We abhor all forms of discrimination which, as a club, we find totally unacceptable.

“We are currently undertaking an immediate review and investigation and the relevant information has been referred to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“We will respond in due course, but the club won’t be making any further comment at this time.”

The investigation comes after the national controversy regarding England cricketer Ollie Robinson who made his Test debut last week.

Robinson, 27, was discovered to have made a number of sexist and racist remarks on the social media platform in 2012 and 2013 when he was 18 and 19. He was subsequently suspended by the ECB after taking seven wickets in the game against New Zealand.

Dragging out decade-old racist and sexist tweets by a young man making his way in the game was unjust, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said.

“Ollie Robinson’s tweets were offensive and wrong,” he tweeted. “They are also a decade old and written by a teenager. The teenager is now a man and has rightly apologised. The ECB has gone over the top by suspending him and should think again.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, led an echoing chorus in support of Robinson keeping his place in the team.

But other commentators said Robinson should have been made an example of given his profile and the fact he could be seen as a role model.

In the Lancashire players' tweets, many referred to females in a derogatory way, prompting group Stump Out Sexism, which campaigns for equality in the game of cricket, to label them “abhorrent”.

Roisin McCallion, co-founder of Stump Out Sexism, said: “The tweets in question are undeniably utterly abhorrent and very clearly highlight the pertinence of sexism in our society.

“The open sexualisation of and discrimination towards women has been accepted as commonplace for far too long.

“Whilst we continue to dismiss this as nothing more than ‘banter’ and fail to engage in conversations about the underlying issues, we will never see the problem addressed.

“If this is considered acceptable outside of the dressing room and sporting contexts, there is little surprise that we see it continue into the game.

“If we truly wish to stump out sexism in cricket, we also need to work on tackling sexism in broader society: acknowledge there is a problem and educate men and boys on why there is no place for this kind of language at any time."