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Opinion

Jofra Archer is the most overrated bowler in England

16th July, 2020
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Roar Guru
16th July, 2020
20
1252 Reads

It seemed that last year, Jofra Archer was the next big thing for England. But I would like to beg to differ.

After the eventful Ashes series which saw Archer rise to fame by taming Steve Smith and taking 22 wickets in the series and the 2019 World Cup final where he took crucial wickets to stop New Zealand making a big target and bowled that crucial super over, he was heralded as a hero.

Since then, his form has dipped.

When England toured New Zealand, Archer only took two wickets for 209 runs across the whole series. The Kiwis outplayed England.

Then after the New Zealand tour, England toured South Africa where Archer took only one five-wicket haul and was expensive in the two Test matches he played.

Unfortunately for England, Archer was injured – but maybe it was a good thing as England’s bowling attack found a way to win the series. They found a much better bowler in Sam Curran who led to England to a series win.

Let’s take the current series as a great example of Archer being a poor bowler. England had the perfect opportunity to win and they didn’t.

I don’t know where the hype is coming from. His approach in bowling in Test cricket by bouncing out a batsman may work against tail-enders, but a quality batsman such as Virat Kohli or like we saw on Sunday Jermaine Blackwood can handle Archer quite well and quite easily.

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Simply duck and play the pull shot when needed.

I can say that this the bumper tactic is a great one, as we have seen with Neil Wagner who has found Steve Smith’s weakness.

However, when you have no Stuart Broad in the team and you are trying to win a Test match on day five, you need someone to attack the wickets, not the head.

I believe he is more suited to the T20 format as this tactic can work there, or the ODI format as he has an excellent slower ball and yorker.

Moreover, if England wants to win Test matches they must try to find the next James Anderson and Stuart Broad, not try to follow the Australian model.

England’s pitches are not suited to short bowling. England’s preferred plan is to slow the scoring down and swing the ball.

Overall Archer is a quality bowler but he should be under fire. You cricket fans out there what is your thoughts?

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