Jofra is so quick I need to wear
You have to be prepared for anything keeping to England bowler – he is the fastest I have faced
Jofra Archer is the quickest bowler I have kept wicket to in my career. He hits the gloves hard and the hands take a pounding. I wore two inners under my keeping gloves
for the first time at Lord’s to keep for Jofra and they were needed. They give a little bit of padding. Not much, though, because the hands get a bit sore.
Technically, it was a great challenge keeping to him and I love it because it makes you feel alive. You keep wicket because you constantly want to be involved in the game and when Jofra is bowling you know that you will have to be prepared for anything to happen. He can beat people on the outside and the inside edge. He has skills taking the ball away from the right-hander and the lefthander so you know you are in the hunt for an edge.
As a keeper you have to deal with his seam position. When it comes past the bat his seam is very upright so there is no real rotation on the ball. Rotation causes wobble, which stops it from swinging. But with Jofra because he has such an upright seam it swings late after it has passed the batsman – and at his pace that means you have to be ready to go quickly. I just try to make sure my head is over the top of the ball as long as possible because that way you are able to track its trajectory until it nestles in the gloves.
If it does swing you can go with the movement if your head is over the ball. If your hands are away from your body it is harder to track because everything is out of sync and you are more likely to make a mistake.
Archer hits the gloves hard but Ben Stokes was bowling at 90 mph; Stuart Broad at 86 mph; so it was relentless. If you catch the ball correctly then it doesn’t sting. If it wobbles on you and it doesn’t