Now, let me be clear - this is a comprehensive series victory by England. However, with the bad weather around, despite being several levels above West Indies as a Test team (not to mention a weak Windies batting order which was further hampered missing two of their best batsmen), the fact that England came to within a few hours of losing the trophy is highly alarming.
A majority of the blame has to go to Archer. Touted by many as being among the best bowlers in the world after just a handful of matches, his performance and antics almost cost England this series.
FIRST TEST - Anderson is the best in the world in these conditions, so unless he's resting, there is no way he sits out. Wood is the fastest bowler in England and was absolutely brilliant in the last few Tests so it made sense to select him. That left the final spot as a straight shoot-out between Archer and Broad. It is abundantly clear now, just how wrong Stokes was in picking Archer. It is without doubt the reason England lost the first match. Archer bowled one decent spell but otherwise was average and managed to get just 3 wickets. He also spent the evenings on social media arguing with former players.
SECOND TEST - Enough has been said about him breaking the biosecure bubble so I won't go into detail. However worse than the breach was how Archer acted afterwards. He joined the squad without notifying anyone, fully intending to play the second test. It was only after he mentioned it in passing to the support staff, was it reported and England had to withdraw him on the morning of the match. This completely disrupted their planning and would have been a shambolic way to start a must win match. However luckily, their players stood up for them.
THIRD TEST - Archer spent the time between the tests writing a long article about how difficult the past few days were, how it wasn't a big deal, how much the media was unfair to him and how people had abused him on social media. He then walked into the team at the cost of the very reliable Sam Curran and proceed to bowl complete trash in the first innings. He took a wicket with a great bouncer (his speciality) however he went at over 4 an over against an exhausted and despondent West Indies lineup. His bowling alone was the reason West Indies avoided the follow-on. If he hadn't bowled poorly, the match could have been over in the third day instead of almost meandering to a draw due to the weather. In the final innings, Root gave him an extended spell to try and eek out a lucky wicket against the west indies lower order who seemed to have given up, yet he still struggled.
He ended the series with a 50+ average, just 26 runs, a biosecure breach and lots of self-pity.
Let me be clear - Archer has all the tools to go on to become an ATG. However his current attitude and performance is worrying and he needs to go back to the drawing board. Having said that - Pakistan might just be the team against whom his bouncer specialist bowling will be most effective...
A majority of the blame has to go to Archer. Touted by many as being among the best bowlers in the world after just a handful of matches, his performance and antics almost cost England this series.
FIRST TEST - Anderson is the best in the world in these conditions, so unless he's resting, there is no way he sits out. Wood is the fastest bowler in England and was absolutely brilliant in the last few Tests so it made sense to select him. That left the final spot as a straight shoot-out between Archer and Broad. It is abundantly clear now, just how wrong Stokes was in picking Archer. It is without doubt the reason England lost the first match. Archer bowled one decent spell but otherwise was average and managed to get just 3 wickets. He also spent the evenings on social media arguing with former players.
SECOND TEST - Enough has been said about him breaking the biosecure bubble so I won't go into detail. However worse than the breach was how Archer acted afterwards. He joined the squad without notifying anyone, fully intending to play the second test. It was only after he mentioned it in passing to the support staff, was it reported and England had to withdraw him on the morning of the match. This completely disrupted their planning and would have been a shambolic way to start a must win match. However luckily, their players stood up for them.
THIRD TEST - Archer spent the time between the tests writing a long article about how difficult the past few days were, how it wasn't a big deal, how much the media was unfair to him and how people had abused him on social media. He then walked into the team at the cost of the very reliable Sam Curran and proceed to bowl complete trash in the first innings. He took a wicket with a great bouncer (his speciality) however he went at over 4 an over against an exhausted and despondent West Indies lineup. His bowling alone was the reason West Indies avoided the follow-on. If he hadn't bowled poorly, the match could have been over in the third day instead of almost meandering to a draw due to the weather. In the final innings, Root gave him an extended spell to try and eek out a lucky wicket against the west indies lower order who seemed to have given up, yet he still struggled.
He ended the series with a 50+ average, just 26 runs, a biosecure breach and lots of self-pity.
Let me be clear - Archer has all the tools to go on to become an ATG. However his current attitude and performance is worrying and he needs to go back to the drawing board. Having said that - Pakistan might just be the team against whom his bouncer specialist bowling will be most effective...