DHAKA: England spin bowler Graeme Swann has apologised for ‘crass’ comments made on Facebook where he compared England’s Ashes defeat in Perth to rape.

Swann, 34, had an online conversation with his brother where he said he would rather be at a concert.

England lost the third Test and the best-of-five Ashes series in Perth.

Swann said on Twitter, ‘Sorry to anyone who was offended by my comments in the papers today. Crass and thoughtless of me in the extreme’, reports the BBC.

Swann’s brother’s Facebook profile is not private, and therefore is openly accessible.

The apology followed heavy criticism from Yvonne Traynor, chief executive of the charity Rape Crisis.

‘We are appalled that Graeme Swann equates a cricket match with the devastatingly serious crime of rape,’ she said.

‘It is the duty of a people in the public eye to make sure their own distorted views are kept to themselves and not shared with the general public.’

BDST: 1725 HRS, DEC 19, 2013
Edited by: AM Imran Ali, Newsroom Editor/ Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor