Archer must focus on express pace, says Root
NEVER MIND THE CHAMPIONSHIP – TEST CRICKET TOPS THE LOT, INSISTS SKIPPER
ENGLAND captain Joe Root has told Jofra Archer to recognise pace is his biggest asset and crank up the hostility when his side face New Zealand this evening.
Archer made an instant impact on his promotion to the international arena in the summer, helping bowl England to World Cup glory and a drawn Ashes series with Australia.
However, he regularly dipped below 90mph against the Aussies, with the 24year-old seemingly keen to show there was more to his bowling than raw pace.
But with New Zealand pitches likely to offer the bowlers little encouragement, Root has reminded his biggest weapon just how dangerous he can be.
‘Knowing Jofra, he wants to see the ball moving sideways. But one thing he underestimates is his own talent sometimes and that pace through the air can be a quite a big skill in its own [right],’ Root said on the eve of the first Test in Mount Maunganui.
‘He doesn’t have to be seaming or swinging it round corners, we’ve already seen hostile spells of bowling. Can he tailor that to these conditions?
‘To be able to bowl at that pace for a period of time is a skill in itself and I think he needs to understand that.’
Root acknowledged he may have overbowled Archer at times during the
Ashes but challenged the paceman not to hold anything back against the Kiwis.
‘He wants to be in the game and once you get the ball in his hand and he feels like he has something to offer, he can be very hard to get it off,’ Root added. ‘It’s a great trait but also you want him to bowl as many spells as possible over 90mph, not one a series or once in a blue moon.’
no tests before august were for the championship... they all seemed to mean something
JOE ROOT has told his team there is plenty to play for in the Test series with New Zealand, even though the two matches do not count towards the new world championship.
England face the Kiwis, who they famously beat in the World Cup final, in the first Test at the Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui tonight with their skipper warning his players against treating the occasion lightly.
‘Before August none of the Tests were for the championship, and they all seemed to mean something,’ said the batsman.
‘One thing it is, is a chance to grow in these conditions on maybe some flatter wickets ahead of South Africa and maybe Australia down the line.’
Root also dismissed any suggestion the friendly relationship England tend to have with the Black Caps would mean the series has less of an edge.
‘No, we’re playing Test cricket. That in itself trumps everything else,’ he added.
England’s last visit to New Zealand last year saw them skittled for a humiliating 58 before a classy century from captain Kane Williamson helped the Kiwis to a series win.
Williamson missed the recent Twenty20 series because of a minor hip injury while Root was one of a number of senior players rested after a demanding summer, meaning this Test marks their first meeting since the gripping World Cup final.
Root said of his counterpart: ‘ I’m a huge admirer. I’ve seen the way he holds himself and his team, and the way he plays the game is very admirable. He’s a fine batter as well.’
Williamson, for his part, denied the match in Maunganui and next week’s second Test in
Hamilton offered a chance for revenge after the agonising loss to England in July.
The Kiwi skipper also said it was no shock the boundary countback rule that led to England being crowned World Cup winners after a super over had now been abolished.
The International Cricket Council has altered its tie-break rule, which now sees any super over repeated until one side has more runs. Williamson said: ‘It’s not really a surprise. I genuinely think that no one ever thought that was going to happen and it did.
‘At times, you think about how some of those decisions are made – probably sitting in a room and throwing a few ideas around.
‘That’s all I can imagine. For it to actually happen is a pretty scary thing. It’s not really cricket and I think both teams appreciated that. I think everyone has played hundreds of games of cricket and never had one decided quite like that.
‘It was hard to take. But it is what it is and they were the rules at the time, what you sign up for. But no surprises that’s changed.’
Williamson added: ‘Time has passed and cricket keeps coming thick and fast and you’re focusing on the challenge in hand and the next series. The focus is the here and now, and that’s two Tests against England.’