Swann: Protect Archer – and he can unleash hell
GRAEME SWANN fears England are squandering the talents of paceman Jofra Archer.
Ashes legend Swann has urged captain Joe Root and the Test selectors to develop a plan that will get the best out of the 25-yearold speed merchant.
And he reckons England should copy the blueprint that Australia put in place to enable left-arm quickie Mitchell Johnson to terrify the world’s best batsmen by limiting his workload.
Swann (below) said: “I don’t think England know how to use Jofra Archer properly.
“Jofra should be doing for England what Mitchell Johnson on did for the Aussies in the 2013 Ashes series Down Under. He should be bowling 10 overs a day. Maybe 12 overs s maximum.
“And he should be told to make sure every delivery is a rocket.
“He shouldn’t be holding back because he’s worried about bowling 25 overs.
“If you’ve got someone with his natural pace you wrap them up in cotton wool and send them down to fine leg for most of the day. Then, for 10 or 12 overs, you let them unleash hell in three-over bursts.
“England have got Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson to bowl long spells – and they still have the ability to take wickets.
“But in Jofra Archer they have got someone who will get into batsmen’s heads because he can send a ball down at 95mph. I’d hate to be having a conversation in six or seven years talking about how we didn’t get the best out of him.”
Swann, the rightarmed spinner who took 255 wickets in 60 Tests for England, came through the ranks with Steve Harmison.
Harmison helped to regain the Ashes in 2005 and 2009 and at one point was regarded as the world’s premium paceman.
But Swann feels his career could have been even more productive if England had used him as a spearhead.
Swann said: “Harmy could bowl at 90mphplus without even thinking about it – and at one stage he was the No.1 pace bowler in the world.
“But we asked him to bowl 25 overs every day and that took its toll.
“We should b be looking at wha what the Aussies did with Johnson. “He was seriously quick in 2013 because they came up with a plan to ease his workload and the freedom to just bowl as fast as he could.
“There was one team meeting when we were asked why a team we had been taking 600 runs off were now bowling us out for 80-odd.
“Stuart Broad told Graham Gooch that he would tee-off against any bowler who had 25 overs on the clock.
“But he was being asked to face Johnson when he had only bowled four or five overs – so there was only going to be one outcome.”