Archer bowling at ‘speed of light’

to put up with over the last week, it really is,” said Root.

“As a squad, we’ll try to be around him and make sure he knows we’re all there for him.

But no one should have to deal with that, whether you’re a professional sportsman or a kid growing up at school.

“No one should go through anything like that and it’s deeply disappointing and there’s no other word for it other than disgusting.”

Root is sweating on the fitness of Ben Stokes. The hero of the second Test will have a late fitness test on a quad muscle strain this morning to determine whether he will be able to bowl in the third and deciding Test of the series.

But the allrounder will play as a batter whatever the outcome. “It’s just a question of how much of an impact he can have with the ball throughout the whole game and in the second innings,” said Root.

But in Archer, Root believes that he has an ace up his sleeve after two days of impressive speed in the nets.

“Jofra will be ready for it. He’s had two good days of training and he’s got a smile on his face,” said the England captain.

“He’s bowled at the speed of light over the past couple of days in spicy nets so it wasn’t much fun for our batters.”

Root said he has a “pretty good idea” of what form his attack will take, saying: “When you talk about best bowling attack, it’s for the conditions in front of us.

“We’ve got plenty of options to choose from.

“Whichever combination we go with will be able to take 20 wickets.”