DECKSSS1ST JOF! own path
fail to win a Test series for the first time since 1999, the skipper certainly needs him to be firing again soon.
But whatever happens in South Africa, Haynes insists that Archer can always rely on plenty of support from cricket lovers in the Caribbean.
“It’s disappointing that someone with that ability isn’t playing for the West Indies but he has made his choice to play for England,” said Haynes.
“A lot of people in Barbados want him to do well.
“He’s bowling quick now but he looks like he has got a lot still left in the tank doesn’t he?
“He just strolls up to the wicket and then, ‘Ping.’”
England will hope his patience with Test cricket doesn’t snap anytime soon.
And Bob was a good one. The first rule is they have to pick up their phone when they say they are going to. The second rule is they have got to have something to say to you when their phone does ring.
Bob was gold on both counts. On one occasion during the 2013-14 Ashes series which England lost 5-0, thanks to Mitchell Johnson blasting them out, I rang Bob on a Saturday morning.
He was normally politeness personified but he didn’t even say hello. “It just gets worse,” came the reply at the end of the phone.
Bob duly delivered a withering assessment of England’s shortcomings for the next day’s paper.
As a player Bob was a wildeyed and wild-haired tearaway quick bowler who bagged 325 wickets in 90 Tests between 1971 and 1984.
As a pundit he was a cold-eyed and shorthaired shrewdie who gave credit where it was due but was not afraid to give someone a kicking in print or on Sky.
He was not bylined ‘Ashes hero off his long run’ for nothing. And sometimes he came off a very long run.
Umpires, selectors,
Born: captains, the ECB and the rest all got both barrels but if players performed they got praised and he loved Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Alastair Cook, Ben Stokes and Johnson – even if he is an Aussie.
But Bob was much more than an opinionated brilliant ex-player turned pundit.
He really knew about cricket.
In his book, Cricket Revolution, published in 1981, Bob championed the cause of four-day county cricket and a full-time England manager. He also had a pop at how overseas
Nicknames:
Test stats: players were diluting the pathway for English players to get to the top.
And guess what? The County Championship is now played over four days, every man and his dog has a salaried job with England and overseas players are still blocking English kids. Bob was a visionary.
And he picked up the phone when he was supposed to and he knew his way around a wine list.
English cricket has had some big wins this year. This is the biggest loss.