England fast bowler Jofra Archer has lashed out at ex-captain Michael Vaughan for questioning the former`s commitment to Test cricket.
Jofra Archer Slams Michael Vaughan
Vaughan also questioned the team management’s rotation policy after their 3-1 loss against Virat Kohli led India in the Test series earlier this month in Ahmedabad.
Archer missed the second and fourth Test matches of the recent series in India, and claimed four wickets at an average of 30.50 in the two matches he did play, an almost identical average to that of fellow fast-bowler Ben Stokes.
“Comments like ‘he’s not committed’ or ‘he’s not good enough’ appear as soon as you are not 110 percent. I find it quite annoying how people read into stuff and form their own opinions.
I saw an article from Michael Vaughan in which he said, ‘if Jofra doesn’t love Test cricket, England needs to find out why.’ We’ve never had a conversation about cricket, so I found it a bit odd. He doesn’t know what makes me tick. He doesn’t know what’s driving me,” wrote Jofra Archer for Daily Mail.
Archer also stated that his attitude towards playing Test cricket for England has never changed.
“Let me be clear about something: I’ve never changed my attitude towards playing for England. I’ve always wanted to play all three formats. That hasn’t changed, and never will as far as I’m concerned. I always dreamed of playing Test cricket and don’t feel I’ve had a bad game so far — yet unless I am taking four or five wickets in an innings, I am placed under scrutiny and some people start trying to decipher what’s going on,” added Jofra.
“Everyone must start somewhere, and I am still relatively new to Test cricket. I am making my way, much the same as the two great bowlers in this England set-up, James Anderson and Stuart Broad once did. And I am happy with a bowling average of 31 so far because I can get better.”
“The beauty of where those two are in their careers, with so many wickets to their names, is that they get the benefit of the doubt if they have a quiet match of only one or two wickets.
“People will argue, quite rightly, that they have got to where they are for a reason and will come back strongly, whereas I don’t feel there is the same understanding given or faith placed in others.
“Part of being a bowler is accepting there will be games when you don’t enjoy as much success as you would like but you must tick them off, and when the conditions are right for you to take your big haul, use them.”
Archer made an immediate impact on his Test debut at Lord’s in 2019, hitting Australia’s Steve Smith a sickening blow to the side of the head, that caused Smith to miss the next match as he recovered from a concussion.
