The England and Wales Cricket Board has apologised for a social media post joking that the Pope “loves the Ashes” following an Ash Wednesday message from the critically ill 88-year-old. The ECB said the apparent attempt at humour by the England cricket team’s social media staff had been “ill-judged” and that the post in question had been “swiftly deleted”. Pope Francis, who has been battling double pneumonia in the Gemelli Hospital in Rome for more than a fortnight, posted a message to his @Pontifex account on Tuesday evening to mark the start of the holy season of Lent. He wrote: “The #Ashes remind us of who we are, which does us good. It puts us in our place, smooths out the rough edges of our narcissism, brings us back to reality, and makes us more humble and open to one another. None of us is God; we are all on a journey. #Lent.”