First the Kookaburra ball was too lifeless, then New Zealand pitches were too flat and now Jofra Archer’s latest gripe is that he was cheated by the Kiwi speed guns.
England’s express quick produced more excuses than wickets during his tour of NZ, where he returned figures of 2-209 as his side lost the two-Test series 1-0.
After being hyped in the UK as an overwhelming force that would scythe through batting line-ups the world over, Archer and his team both were dealt a thudding reality check in NZ.
Archer is in the very early stages of his Test career and has years to learn his trade in unfamiliar conditions. He has the raw ability to build a terrific Test career.
But two worrying issues emerged around Archer from this tour – England’s unrealistic expectations for the dynamic paceman, and continued evidence the 24-year-old has an attitude problem.
Typically, young Test quicks should be nursed through their first five to ten Tests as they adapt to the highest level. During this period they should not be burdened with heavy expectations. More experienced bowlers should lead the attack while the fresh face finds their feet.
This has not been the case with Archer, who England skipper Joe Root has used as his go-to bowler from his debut onwards. Root bowled Archer into the turf immediately. In Archer’s first ever Test innings, he sent down 21 of England’s first 57 overs.
At that stage he had bowled nearly twice as many overs as Chris Woakes, a proven star with the ball in England, where he’s taken 70 wickets at 23 in Tests. Just like that, within the space of his first innings as a Test bowler, Archer had already been instated as his side’s most leaned-upon bowler.
Archer ended up completing 44 overs in that Test compared to Woakes’ 22 overs and Broad’s 34. In the process Archer quite literally knocked out the world’s best batsman Steve Smith, prompting many English pundits to declare the Aussie star had finally met his match.
As it turned out, aside from injuring Smith, Archer was powerless to stop the Australian as he churned out 774 runs at 110 for the series. He did not dismiss Smith even once.
Yet that did not halt the momentum of the Archer hype train as he was widely hailed in the UK as the man who could win them Test series all over the world, including the next Ashes in Australia.
He was positioned as the solution to England’s longstanding weakness with the ball away from home. While England’s accurate 135kmh seamers were consistently neutered on the road, Archer apparently would overcome foreign conditions with ease. His pace and bounce all but guaranteed him success abroad, so this narrative went.
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
When England arrived in NZ to play the second-ranked Kiwis, the English press focused heavily on Archer and whether the Kiwi batsmen would be able to handle his raw speed. Yes they would, as it turned out. The New Zealand batting line-up blanketed Archer.
In the first Test, his only wicket came in his 42nd over, by which time New Zealand were already on 603. In the second Test his only wicket came from the second last ball of the Kiwi innings – he had gone wicketless for his first 27 overs.
Throughout these first two Tests, the Kiwi commentators often expressed surprise at the lack of venom in Archer’s bowling. After being clocked at up to 155kmh in the Ashes, there were several spells in New Zealand where he bowled consistently in the 130s, with only the odd effort ball above 140kmh.
As I watched some of these spells, it was hard not to feel Archer was just going through the motions. His body language was poor, and his efforts appeared half-hearted at times. Initially, I wondered if he was carrying an injury.
But there have been no reports from the England camp that he was physically hindered. Archer just didn’t look like he wanted to be there.
That didn’t entirely surprise me, as before this series in New Zealand, there were already red flags about Archer’s inconsistency of effort and propensity to reach for excuses.
In the fourth Ashes match in Manchester, when Archer encountered his first lifeless Test surface, he looked as flat as the pitch. He acted with petulance towards his skipper Root amid a tepid performance, which was criticised by a number of ex-cricketers both in the UK and Australia.
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Then before the first Test in NZ, instead of focusing on the challenge of his first overseas tour, Archer took aim at the Kookaburra ball and the pitch used for England’s warm-up match. He complained about the lack of assistance offered by the Kookaburra and then slammed the Whangarei pitch as the “flattest” he had played on in his life.
For a bowler to start a major Test series whingeing about the ball and the unhelpful local conditions is a bad omen. And so it was, as Archer had a shocking series.
Archer’s response yesterday was to slam the pitches used in that series and even have a bizarre dig at the bowling speed radars that were employed. In his column for the UK’s Daily Mail newspaper, he implied these radars were faulty and had given falsely slow readings for his bowling.
It was an utterly odd way for Archer to sign off from his first overseas Test tour. He will need to quickly get used to dry, sleepy pitches and non-responsive balls because that is what he will encounter more often than not in Australia, India, the UAE, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and NZ.
Only consistent effort can help him overcome those hurdles. Complaining will be of no assistance. It will also help Archer greatly if the expectations on him are greatly reduced by his home public and, above all, his own skipper.
England have long yearned for a solution to their lack of penetration with the ball away from home. In Archer, they appeared to see a remedy. While he may turn out to be just that, Archer is not the quick fix they hoped he would be.
HR
Roar Rookie
:stoked: The idea of Johnson retiring because a pitch was too fast was amusing though.
HR
Roar Rookie
When a player performs poorly and then lays the blame for that performance on all and sundry, they're likely to cop a bit of stick for it - justified or not, it looks like sour grapes. When that player is English, and especially when they're as hyped as Archer is, the reaction is going to be similarly heightened - the English press are just as quick to stick the boot in as they are to puff someone up, so it's not that surprising we've seen this reaction.
HR
Roar Rookie
Exactly. If they use their bowlers in this manner, they're likely to be more successful on unhelpful pitches. The strategy shouldn't be too complex for Root, but they don't seem to be implementing it.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Absolutely, Courtney Walsh was always a rung below the likes of Marshall, Ambrose, Holding, Garner and others, but just had a longevity that others couldn't match which resulted in him finishing with a lot more test wickets. Although, he still finished with a sub-25 test average, which is pretty good, and his home v away stats show he was pretty consistent just about everywhere. In fact, his worst country to bowl in was Australia still, but he did really well in most other places. But he didn't have the awesomeness about him that those others had. Plus, the likes of Marshall, Garner and Ambrose finished with test averages around the 20-21 mark, which is just extraordinary!
Mike
Guest
"Hometown bullies", I admit, is a facetious remark. It's just perhaps an inappropriate way of pointing out a player who has an away record that isn't at all in line with their hometown record. Anderson has gone completely missing on more than one Australian tour. He did ok last tour but it was about time! He's let his team down on foreign soil in a way that McGrath or Lillee simply didn't do when going to England. Great players do their homework and adapt their game to different conditions. It's what makes cricket such a great sport. The flavours of India are so different from NZ etc. Anderson may well love the world to be full of Headingleys and Dukes balls but that would make cricket far less rich. It's just concerning that Jofra seems to be showing that moping state that I've seen Anderson in. It reeks of petulance and dummy spitting. I agree that Anderson is a definite step below great. I also acknowledge his longevity. Courtney Walsh was a very good bowler but his longevity does not, in my mind, elevate him to the rung occupied by Marshall, Ambrose, Holding and Garner.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I really don't like terms like "hometown bullies" and "flat track bullies" just because someone does a lot better in some conditions than others. Doesn't make them a bully. Of course, in Anderson's case there's plenty of other evidence around to suggest he has some definite "bully" tendencies. But that's another issue. Certainly, Anderson's longevity itself is worthy of plaudits. To be able to play 150 test matches as a pace bowler is something to be acknowledged. And he's very consistently, for years, been England's best fast bowler. Certainly he's mastered swinging English conditions and has been devastating there, and that's really helped his overall stats, but even though he's struggled away from that, and has often seemed like he was happy to hide from the captain when conditions weren't helpful, rather than wanting to be the man to find a way to get a wicket, I think he was still clearly England's best quick when they last toured Australia. But definitely, all the "greats" that he's taken more wickets than he played a lot more tests to get to the same number of wickets. So longevity has been a big part of that. I think most people would rate him definitely a bit below "the greats".
Mike
Guest
I agree with your assessment of Anderson. I think he and Warner are similar in that they're hometown bullies. I reckon Jofra might well be taking lessons from Anderson who we've seen drop his bundle many a time as becomes a popgun with nothin' in foreign conditions. It does rile me when the English go on about Anderson as one of the greats. How on earth can he be compared to McGrath, Lillee, a whole arny of Windies bowlers from the 80s and 90s, Imran, Wasim, Waqar, etc? going back further he's not close to Trueman. Anderson doesn't even average 4 wickets a test. I see similarities between Anderson and Jofra when it comes to attitude - I hope I'm wrong as it would actually be great for the next Ashes in Australia to see England with a fired up Jofra. I can't see Anderson coming here again - he'll just get hammered again.
Don Freo
Roar Rookie
Try looking at the playing of the game rather than the result. Less likely to be bored then. I'm still playing veterans at 66. There is no way cricket is ever boring.
Irie
Roar Rookie
I play the game every weekend, every summer and at 51 still intend to keep going while the body holds out, so I'd say "cricket is my thing" . However, being bored is not
Irie
Roar Rookie
The last result at the MCG decided by less than 100 runs or 5 wickets was 2002, 17 years ago By less than 100 runs or 4 wickets it was 1998, which is 21 years ago.
Chris
Guest
@Jeff, you conveniently leave out of your narrative that the MCG pitch you refer to as rated as "poor" so the criticism were justified. Also it is the captains job to offer a fair assessment of the game, not a bowler's job to have a whine about the conditions not being to his liking.
nekatsiemanresu
Roar Rookie
Let me transpose that for you to another race/ethnic group so you understand. Say regarding Virat Kohli would you say 'Eating curry in the taj mahal'? do you understand now?
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
You're right on Stokes, I discounted him as a Flintoff allrounder leading the attack as he is a bat first. He can't afford to be bowled into the ground as those niggles rob them of their most productive bat of late. I'm not convinced with Wood, but like you, can't see where the leader is going to come from.
@Simon says: I watched almost all of the NZ Eng test matches and after the ball got 5 overs old it was incredibly boring, just low slow cricket where the team that commits less mistakes wins. " Well, Simon, if it was all too boring why did you "watch almost all of the NZ Eng test matches".....doesn't make sense mate.
elvis
Roar Rookie
Now I understand, Kevin Pieterson was actually a team player, we were all just racist in judging his attitude.
elvis
Roar Rookie
So only coloured people drink rum on the beach in that part of the world?
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Nothing I have seen.
Stuart
Roar Rookie
If the speeds recorded were lower for all bowlers then yes, blame the radar, but if Archer was markedly slower in comparison to Broad and co than he was in England then it has something to do with stamina and effort. Have any comparisons of all the English bowlers who bowled in both series been published?
nekatsiemanresu
Roar Rookie
Regarding the speed gun accuracy they will appear quicker. I believe they use 2 radars or readings to measure and then chose the lowest in NZ, in australia the Highest. This was discussed in an article during an NZ v Australia test match in 2015 at the WACA. Maybe i have the details wrong but basically the technology and it's application should not be taken as entirely accurate in either country.
Paul
Roar Guru
I think you may be right I2I. Right now, I don't see Archer leading an attack a la Broad or Anderson, but I couldn't come up with a name who might take on that role when those two guys retire. Stokes knee injury must also be a huge concern, given the bloke's only 28 and I'm sure the Poms had in pencilled in as an all rounder for the next 5 or 6 years. He might be able to bowl in the future, but if he can't generate a lot of pace, I'm not sure how effective he might be.