Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull has slammed England pacer Jofra Archer for showing no special efforts to be ready for the upcoming three-Test series between England and New Zealand starting from June 4 onwards.
Given his history of injuries and worries about his workload, Archer was criticised for his prolonged involvement. For the first Test match against New Zealand, he was left off England's roster.
Before the game, both Archer and the England & Wales Cricket Board were criticised by Simon Doull for their negligent treatment of Archer in recent months.
“It’s ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous. How are you paying this guy up to a million pounds a year, and he’s not available for your first Test match? It’s absolutely ludicrous,” Doull lambasted the ECB on Sky Sports.
During the Kiwis' last trip to England, at the beginning of the Brendon McCullum regime for England, Doull described how New Zealand's own fast bowlers were still juggling their IPL workload with preparing for Test matches.
“The last time New Zealand came here, we go back to that last Bazball series. Tim Southee, Trent Boult, and Matt Henry were all practising in between games in the IPL with the red ball and getting through overs and overs and overs, so they were ready to go when they arrived. I think they arrived 5 days before the first Test after the IPL on that previous tour,” explained Doull.
New Zealand was whitewashed 0-3 by England, as the pacer proved to be ineffective. But Doull viewed that as an example of how the ECB could have used Jofra Archer well. He stated that Archer could’ve kept himself red-ball ready while playing IPL for the Rajasthan Royals.
“Ok, it didn’t work out; NZ lost the series 3-0, but there is no reason that Jofra Archer couldn’t have been bowling six or seven overs in between each day. The fact that he is not doing that tells me he has no interest in playing Test cricket,” Doull said.
“And why are the ECB not then sending someone out there or having discussions with Kumar Sangakkara, with the team saying we need him to be doing this?" We need him to be ready for Test match cricket.
We have allowed him to come to you for this 8-week period; in between days, he needs to be bowling 5 overs, 6 overs, and 7 overs with the red ball so he’s ready to go. And there’s enough time. If you are doing that in between games, there is enough time to come back here for a week and get ready for a Test match. There is no issue with that, so I think it’s completely wrong,” concluded Doull.
The first Test of the series will be played at Lord’s from June 4, the second Test at the Oval from June 17, and the final Test at Nottingham from June 25.
(Sky Cricket inputs)
