Archer reveals racist abuse, says he may skip final Test
LONDON: England’s Jofra Archer says he was racially abused after his breach of Covid-19 protocols and is struggling to get into the right frame of mind to play in the decisive third Test against the West Indies. The 25-year-old pacer missed the second Test because of an unauthorised trip home after the first Test. He is free to play after two negative Covid-19 tests.
Archer said in his Daily Mail column on Wednesday that he had not “committed a crime”. He said some of the social media criticism he had received had been racist and felt uncertain about taking the field on Friday for the final Test, also at Old Trafford.
“I need to be 100 percent mentally right so that I can throw myself into my cricket this week,” Archer wrote. He said England had enough bowling resources if he was not ready to return. Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, James Anderson and Mark Wood are all available. “I give 100 percent every time I go out there and I don’t want to go out on the field unless I can guarantee doing that,” Archer wrote.
Archer, subjected to racist abuse by a spectator during a tour of New Zealand last year, said: “Some of the abuse I have taken over the past few days on Instagram has been racist and I have decided that enough is enough... so I have forwarded my complaints to the ECB.”
Anderson told a press conference that the players had not seen much of Archer because he was in isolation. “I’m sure he’ll want to play because it’s such a crucial game,” Anderson said. “He’s said about his frame of mind and that’s something that he’s going to have to sit down with the captain (Joe Root) and coach (Chris Silverwood) and figure out.”
Meanwhile, Silverwood admitted that Ben Stokes was making it difficult for England selectors to give him a break by consistently turning in stellar performances.
Despite a tight turnaround, it would be a surprise if England chose to rest Stokes. “We want him out there as much as we can—everyone can see how good he is,” said Silverwood.