"I want to play Test cricket for England" : Jofra Archer

[MenInG]

An England cricket fan says "racist and homophobic abuse" forced him to leave the fourth Ashes Test between England and Australia at Old Trafford.

Ed Marsh says Lancashire took three days to respond to his complaint.

"Even after 72 hours there was nothing substantive in the response I received," Marsh told BBC Sport.

A spokesperson said the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was "immensely disturbed that a spectator has felt intimidated and distressed".

A statement added: "We are currently working alongside Lancashire to understand the specifics of this case.

"It is vitally important that all supporters feel able to come forward and report anti-social behaviour and feel safe in doing so."

Marsh, who attended the Test with his parents, in their sixties, and his sister, said a group of eight men were singing a racist song about England's Barbados-born fast bowler Jofra Archer.

He also said female fans were subjected to sexist chants, while players were on the end of homophobic abuse from the same group.

Marsh made his complaint via social media on Thursday, the second day of the Test.

In a statement Lancashire said they have a "zero tolerance policy on anti-social behaviour" .

It added that "two response teams were sent to the scene but did not witness any foul or abusive language".

Marsh said the group in question turned on him and his family as they left the Lightning Stand, which is at the Statham End of the ground.

"There is a clear lack of policy enforcement and I am amazed that in 2019 the sport doesn't have a mechanism to report this sort of incident in a way that doesn't identify you to the perpetrators," Marsh added.

"The Archer chant happened three times before I spoke to a steward on the day but being asked to identify people who are two metres away makes you a target. It was scary. It could have got physical and nasty.

"People talk about the atmosphere at cricket and most of it is good natured but this was sustained anti-social behaviour. If you are from a minority background, why would you go?"

The news follows two Australia fans being ejected from Old Trafford for using "foul and abusive" language towards Archer, 24, on the first day of the Test.

In 1999, the ECB commissioned a report into racism in the sport to ensure that all cricketers and those associated with the game are treated with respect.

Australia sealed a 185-run win over England at Old Trafford on Sunday to retain the Ashes.

Full ECB statement
"The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is extremely disturbed to hear that a report was made regarding anti-social behaviour from a group of spectators during the fourth Specsavers Ashes Test match at Emirates Old Trafford.

"We are currently working alongside Lancashire to understand the specifics of this case.

"ECB works closely with all First Class Counties to ensure that clear guidelines are in place at every venue so that watching a cricket match is safe and enjoyable for everyone.

"Venues are responsible for the stewarding operation at matches but we have a number of measures in place to continually improve standards, including contracting the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA) to audit all venues, adopting the ICC's anti-racism and discriminatory behaviour code, and working with Drink Aware to support their alcohol management policy.

"While this is a relatively isolated incident there is absolutely no place for anti-social behaviour within the game and it is vitally important that all spectators feel able to come forward to report anti-social behaviour and feel safe in doing so."



https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/49631844

 

[MenInG]

Continues to impress - 5fer again

 

[James]

Has an extremely bright future.

 

[Mamoon]

He is sensational and it has been obvious even before he made his international debut. England have replaced Anderson already who is not even done yet.

 

[tyron_woodley]

still can't get smith out but good job.

 

[Abdullah719]

Good duel with Wade today. Bowled a ball at 95.6mph...

But that shirt needs ironing.

 

[sweep_shot]

So, after 4 Tests, he ended up with 22 wickets with an average of 20.27 and economy rate of 2.85.

Not a bad start to his Test career. His real test will probably be subcontinent. If he can do well there, he can do well anywhere.

 

[Abdullah719]

ECB release

The ECB has today confirmed the award of Central Contracts for men's Test and White Ball cricket.

Selectors have awarded 10 Test contracts and 12 White Ball contracts.

Sussex fast bowler Jofra Archer receives a Test and a White Ball contract for the first time after his successful debut international season.

Surrey opening batsman Rory Burns is awarded a Test contract after becoming the leading top order runscorer in the Specsavers Ashes series.

 

[sweep_shot]

Following on from their success at the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019, ace England fast bowler Jofra Archer said that his side could make history by winning back-to-back World Cup titles.

England lifted the 50-over World Cup trophy for the first time, after a final for the ages at Lord's against New Zealand. Now, Archer said, they have their sights trained on next year's T20 World Cup, which will be played in Australia.

"Hopefully, we can win the T20 World Cup next year," Archer told The Telegraph. "We want to climb the rankings in the Test Championship. I think we can make history. We have started already.

"Hopefully, we can win back-to-back [World Cups]. Who’s to say we can’t? Everyone is around the same age in the group we have got together. We will be together for a lot more years."

England won the 50-over crown in dramatic fashion. After tying New Zealand's score, both teams also stood on par with each other after the Super Over that followed, leaving England to be declared victors by virtue of a superior boundary count.

Archer played a vital role. With 21 wickets in his kitty, he finished as England's highest wicket-taker in the tournament, and also delivered the Super Over.

"I was not nervous at all – probably because I didn't realise until about 30 seconds before," he said, looking back. "Anyone could have bowled the Super Over. We were never not going to get another chance. If we lost, there is always another game. At the moment, it is still early in my career."

Archer followed up his World Cup success with a spectacular debut Test series at the 2019 Ashes, where four Tests gave him 22 wickets at an average of 20.27. Archer's fearsome pace was the source of much trouble for Australia, while his battle against Steve Smith made for one of the most riveting subplots in a well-fought series.

"I pretty much know what I need to do cricket-wise and mentally," Archer said. "I’m at a stage where I know how to look after myself. I’ve found what works for me and what doesn’t."

Link: https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1452609.

 

[MenInG]

Racists out of tune with changing world, says England's Archer

London - England's fast-bowling sensation Jofra Archer says cricket fans who resort to racist abuse should realise times have moved on and the world is a much more multicultural place.

The 24-year-old Barbados-born bowler has quickly become a favourite with the England fans since he became eligible to play for his adopted country earlier this year.

The Sussex star benefited from the England and Wales Cricket Board reducing the eligibility period from seven years to three so he did not have to wait till 2022.

He quickly showed his worth by bowling the decisive Super Over in the thrilling World Cup final win over New Zealand.

He then marked his test debut by flooring Australia's star batsman Steve Smith in the second Ashes Test at Lord's which saw him miss the following match at Headingley with concussion and in his absence England won to level the series.

It was in the fourth Test at Old Trafford - which Australia won to ensure they retained the Ashes - that Archer was barracked by a couple of fans.

"I was aware what the guys were saying - something about my passport - but I blanked them," he told The Daily Mail in an interview conducted in New Zealand where England are touring.

"It was only later that Rooty (Joe Root the England captain) said the guys got ejected.

"It was the first time I'd seen someone get ejected from a ground, because there were some abusive fans when we played Pakistan at Trent Bridge (heckling Ben Stokes).

Archer, who says an elderly spectator at a county game with Kent had once queried how was he playing for Sussex, said racist incidents occurred far less in cricket than football.

"The world's changing," he said.

"It's becoming more multicultural. A lot of people have accepted it for what it is.

"Look at the England cricket team - there's huge diversity.

"It's the same with any football club in the world.

"I think people have to accept it. Times have changed, it's not 2007 any more."

Archer says he sees himself as a role model to young British West Indians who have aspirations to play cricket for England.

"Yeah, to let them know it's possible," said Archer.

"It doesn't really matter where you're born.

"If you know that cricket's what you want to do, you never know where you'll end up.

"I didn't know my dreams would come true and I'd end up playing cricket for England.

"If it happens for me, it can happen for anyone."

Archer says being the man who bowled the decisive Super Over in the World Cup did not alter his profile.

"Not many England fans knew who I was anyway, so if they saw me in the street they probably thought I was a footballer, or something," he said.

"I guess that was the beauty of it, being able to go under the radar."

https://www.sport24.co.za/Cricket/r...-changing-world-says-englands-archer-20191111

 

[Sir-fraz]

racism will never be fully gone, the best people can do is educate others.

people will always care about, color, culture and religion. many ways to discriminate each other.

there will always be a small percentage of closed minded individuals who just dont have the vision to see beyond their own selves.

i think instead of always highlighting the small amount of racists, we should be highlighting the positive aspects of the game and show the racists that they dont matter.

why give attention seeking individuals more power? these guys feed off the negative energy, yet media keeps sensationalizing the same issues with a new twist.

at the end of the day its entertainment for the masses, more people tune into a violent crime story then one where someone is providing help.

which is why im sick and tired of hearing the cries of racism, STOP giving these guys the attention and they will have a slow death and disappear.

these guys do it for the attention, remove the attention and see the difference.

Why highlight a small minority of negativity when there is a bigger majority of positivity in the same stadium.

 

[MenInG]

People like Archer will always be heckled due to their roots and accents - some of it may not be racism but basic jealousy - Cricket doesnt have that much of a problem.

 

[Hyperion66]

Fantastic bowler with perhaps the smoothest action I have seen since Wasim, England is extremely lucky to have him.

 

[Abdullah719]

'He's a fast learner' – Root backs Archer to redeem himself after a forgettable series

Spoiler

England captain Joe Root has backed his star paceman Jofra Archer to rise from his failures in New Zealand, after the latter finished the two-Test series with just as many wickets.

Archer had carried his limited-overs success to the longest format in his maiden red-ball assignment, the home Ashes series earlier this year, where he bagged 22 wickets at 20.27 from four games. That standard of performance dipped in New Zealand, where he had a series to forget, taking just two wickets from 82 overs.

Root, though, is well aware of his potential and hopes to see the 24-year-old bounce back in the near future.

"I think he's found that Test cricket is hard, and you've got to keep backing up those performances over and over again," Root told Sky Sports. "You can sometimes bowl extremely well and get no reward.

"And he's young. He's right at the start of his career, and as I said at the start of the trip, there are big expectations on him. He's still got a lot of learning to do, but one thing I know for sure is that he's a fantastic talent and there's no doubt he's going to contribute massively for England in Test cricket."

Archer visibly found it difficult to adapt to the Kookaburra ball and seemed low on pace. He could've had his moment on the final day of the second Test, when he induced a false stroke off Kane Williamson, an aerial clip towards short mid-wicket, but Joe Denly dropped an absolute sitter to sum up the agony.

"He has to keep wanting to learn, and to stay nice and resilient mentally and physically as well, because these conditions can wear you down," Root said. "I expect him to bounce back quite strongly from something like this, because he's a fast learner. He's proven that when he's played domestic cricket around the world, in all these big franchise tournaments. Hopefully, we'll see see him back at his best soon."

Root added that inspiration can be drawn from the opposition too, as he heaped praises on Neil Wagner, who led the wicket-taking charts in the series, with 13 scalps to his name.

"You've got to learn from the opposition as well," he said. "You look at someone like Neil Wagner - he's got a big heart, a big engine, and keeps running. And that's what you want, you want guys who, time and time again, want to be putting themselves in that position, to keep wanting to create chances and keep trying to change the game."

England might've lost the series but have some positives to take back home, none as significant as Ollie Pope, who replaced the injured Jos Buttler in the XI and responded with a well-crafted 75 on debut. He might've dropped a straight forward chance off Ben Stokes to give Williamson a reprieve on the final morning, but his monumental 193-run stand with Root was enough to impress the skipper.

"Look, we didn't expect Jos to go down as late as he did, but it does happen," said Root. "And we knew that that could happen when we picked the squad. And, bar one mistake today, Ollie made a very good account of himself. He showed great maturity with the way he batted throughout his innings and proved why he got that opportunity."

https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/1513575

 

[aloo paratha]

Duke ball bully? Hyped to the moon but ends up averaging over 100.

 

[Last Monetarist]

Think he has the same issue as Mitchell Starc, doesn't quite know which length to bowl with the red ball. It's either too full or too short, with a smorgasbord of slower balls and cutters thrown in for good measure. That's what you get when you play too much T20 cricket at a young age, he'll always be too inconsistent to be considered a great bowler in test matches.

 

[lifecric7]

Too early to judge him.. he has all the tools..let him play 30 test matches in different conditions and then we can judge

 

[Abdullah719]

England fast bowler Jofra Archer complains of faulty radar guns tracking his speed in NZ

Spoiler

Jofra Archer has found an unlikely ally after the England fast bowler claimed the radar guns used to track ball speeds in the series defeat to the Black Caps were faulty.

England left New Zealand this week to contemplate a tour of South Africa after going down 1-0 in the two-match series.

Hammered by more than an innings in the first test in Tauranga, they endured a frustrating draw in Hamilton and British attention seemed to centre more on the benign Kiwi wickets than anything wrong with the English performance.

Star paceman Jofra Archer endured a miserable series taking 2-209 and he believes his fearsome pace wasn't recorded properly during his time in New Zealand.

"In case you're wondering, I'm still not convinced about the speedgun," Archer wrote in his latest column for the Daily Mail.

"I felt it didn't have its best game at Mount Maunganui, and I came away from Hamilton thinking the same. Not just me - all the bowlers were made to look a bit slower than I believe they really are."

While Kiwi fans may be quick to brush that off as sour grapes, former Black Caps bowler Mitchell McClenaghan took to Twitter to support Archer's claims.

"Have to agree - NZ have the slowest radars and it's not a fair representation of our bowlers speeds comparatively on the world stage. Hamilton is the slowest in the world by far," McClenaghan said.

McClenaghan last represented his country in 2018 but has continued to play in the domestic scene as well as various Twenty20 leagues overseas.

Archer was timed at around 154 km/h as he made his test debut in the Ashes series earlier this year.

At Mt Maunganui the speedgun clocked him regularly in the high 130s, occasionally into the 140s, and with a top speed of 152 km/h.

For all that, Archer said he had enjoyed his tour of New Zealand though he was looking forward to South Africa where the pitches would offer more pace and bounce.

He felt it "wouldn't be difficult" to better the wickets they had experienced in New Zealand.

"Was Seddon Park a good pitch for test cricket? I guess it was if you're looking to sell tickets for five days," he wrote in the Daily Mail.

"But it was always going to be hard for either side to get a result on that surface. I know we had a bit of rain, but 22 wickets in five days tells its own story.

"At least at Mt Maunganui it helped the spinner towards the end of the match, which was part of the reason we had a result there. But both sides struggled to get the Kookaburra to do much in Hamilton once the ball got a bit old."

Archer also used his column to sign off the ugly incident of verbal abuse he received from a spectator in Mt Maunganui.

"I also enjoyed the New Zealand crowds very much, despite the one-off incident in the first test.

"There was one guy at Hamilton who kept shouting my name, which was very flattering, but I wasn't quite sure what he wanted. A few moments later, I held a catch right in front of him at fine leg. He seemed to go quiet after that."

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/crick...of-faulty-radar-guns-tracking-his-speed-in-nz

 

[Abdullah719]

Jofra Archer loses Cricket World Cup medal after moving house

Spoiler

Jofra Archer is searching for his 2019 Cricket World Cup winner's medal after losing it during a recent house move.

Last year's tournament was where Archer rose from relative obscurity to a household name, finishing as England's leading wicket-taker with 20 dismissals at an average of 23.05.

Archer was chosen to bowl the super over in the Lord's final against New Zealand last July, holding his nerve in the most dramatic of finishes as England completed a remarkable triumph.

But when asked about his souvenir from the day, Archer told BBC Radio 5 Live: "I had it hanging off a portrait someone did for me and sent to me, I had my medal hanging on that.

"I moved flat and the picture is on the new wall but there's no medal. I turned the house upside down for about a week but I still haven't managed to find it.

"I know it should be in the house so I will keep my eyes out for it but I've gone mad looking for it already."

Archer admitted he has spent much of his time during the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, having returned back to the United Kingdom from Barbados last month, looking for his medal.

And the 25-year-old said the search will continue, adding: "There's nothing else to do in isolation. It's all hands on deck."

England prevailed in the final on boundary countback alone after they matched New Zealand's total in the regulation 50 overs while the Kiwis equalled the hosts' score in a nerve-shredding super over.

The Barbados-born Archer had been set to take on the West Indies - who he represented at U19 level - in Test cricket for the first time, but that series has now been postponed after the England and Wales Cricket Board extended its delay to the start of the season to July 1 because of the coronavirus.

England are hoping to reschedule the West Indies series, and any other cancelled international fixtures, from July until the end of September.

https://www.skysports.com/cricket/n...es-cricket-world-cup-medal-after-moving-house

 

[Robert]

Think he has the same issue as Mitchell Starc, doesn't quite know which length to bowl with the red ball. It's either too full or too short, with a smorgasbord of slower balls and cutters thrown in for good measure. That's what you get when you play too much T20 cricket at a young age, he'll always be too inconsistent to be considered a great bowler in test matches.

Good point. He needs a stock ball like Hadlee. Four cutters on a length per over and do something else with the other two.

The other thing is that England must use him in short fast bursts. We don’t need another FM.