ASHES 2019: Jofra Archer responds to Glenn McGrath's "odd" criticism

Jofra Archer who was born in Barbados was fast tracked in England's team.

Jofra Archer celebrating the fall of Aussie opener Marcus Harris | Getty

England’s World Cup hero Jofra Archer who was fast tracked in international cricket, has impressed a lot of fans and pundits with his bowling. But former Australia pace legend Glenn McGrath was not one of them as he criticized Archer for not doing the hard yards.

A lot has been made of Jofra Archer but you can’t just fire it up when things are good. You’ve got to do the hard yards as well, and I’m yet to see him do the hard yards. Archer can look to the example of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who have been extremely impressive,” McGrath wrote in his BBC Sport column.

Archer responded to the criticism, as he said, “I was surprised when I saw that. As a former fast bowler, he knows you won’t have a good day every day. You’re bowling against Steve Smith, who’s the No 1 batter in the world anyway. The pitches weren’t English pitches. They were flat.

Some days you are not going to feel good. Some days the ball is not going to come out of your hand well. Some days the batter will have a day out. You are going to have a lot more bad days in cricket than good days. It’s proven. Everyone will have bad days. I’ve had a couple,” he added.

READ ALSO: Jofra Archer expresses strong appetite for future Test engagements

The 24-year-old born in Barbados then went on to talk about his initial days when people were not happy with him playing as he was not English.

Just before I qualified to play for England, some people weren’t happy I was being considered for the team. Some people were saying: “Oh, he’s not English and he doesn’t deserve to play. All that stuff. Four months down the line, I could go back to those same tweets and comments and say ‘What do you think now?’,” he said.

(With Metro.co.uk inputs)

 
 

By Swapnil Shireesh Javkhedkar - 22 Sep, 2019

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