Birmingham, July 6 (IANS) Former skipper Michael Vaughan has cautioned England against expecting too much too soon from Jofra Archer if he’s picked for the upcoming Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test against India at Lord’s, citing that the current set-up sees the fast-bowler as the answer to their bowling problems in the series.
Archer is in line for a return to Test cricket after four years as England are set to shake up their fast-bowling attack at Lord’s after India’s batters had an absolute run-fest in both innings at Edgbaston. Archer has played 13 Tests for England and picked 42 wickets at an average of 31.04.
“I can understand, I have a real concern about Jofra playing next week, I really do. I can’t see how his body is going to be able to cope with a five day match on the back of that one day in the field. But I can understand why England are wrapping him in cotton wool because he is that X-Factor and he has got that ability.
“We all go back to that spell that he bowled to Steve Smith at Lord’s. It was just up there with the great, great spells in Test match cricket. But after that spell, what has Jofra done in Test match cricket? So we are kind of looking at Jofra as if he is the saviour to everything. We have got to be very, very careful on the player and the human being that we don’t expect too much too soon,” said Vaughan on BBC Test Match Special.
Mark Butcher, the former England cricketer, also felt playing Archer at Lord’s will be a big risk. “The issue is, with all of these injuries and the amount of time that Jofra has been out of the game, you have no idea how he is going to react to a full day in the field – never mind three of them!”
“England have fielded on all four days of this Test match so far. You add that to that face that even when England are batting well, they don’t bat for very long, so before you know it the bowlers are back out there again,” he said on Sky Sports’ broadcast.
England’s off-spinner Shoaib Bashir has picked wickets, but also leaked runs aplenty. With Jacob Bethell, a batter who can also send down some overs of spin, sitting in reserves, Butcher felt replacing a specialist spinner with a part-time option won’t be fair.
“I think Bashir is getting better all the time. The amount of bad balls – rank drag-down deliveries, full tosses – he has almost wiped them out. He has also shown good command of drop and drift, gets plenty of revs on the ball but he just hasn’t had the conditions. If England had wanted a finished article, somebody that can bat down at No 8 and can be a proper reliable spin bowler, then Liam Dawson would have played 50 Test matches, but for whatever reason he has not figured.”
“I also don’t think you should be replacing a young spin bowler who has just gone to 50 Test wickets with one that is a part-time spin bowler and a top-order batter. That is not the answer at all. England have been correct under Ben Stokes to want a specialist spin bowler in any line-up, for any conditions. Going for a bit of Jacob Bethell, a bit of Joe Root and that will do us… it won’t. Bethell is a discussion for another time, in terms of your top-order batting, but he’s not the answer as a spin bowler,” he concluded.
–IANS
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