England captain Ben Stokes said that Jofra Archer is committed to the national team despite the pacer missing the first Test vs New Zealand after wrapping up his Indian Premier League commitments for Rajastha Royals on May 29. On Tuesday, England coach Brendon McCullum also cast doubt on Archer’s availability for the second test, which starts June 17, saying he is having “a little bit of a break at the moment” and needs to be assessed.
Due to his unavailability, Archer has faced scrutiny from many experts but skipper Stokes said that it’s a sign of the times with the proliferation of franchise leagues around the world.
“A lot of the points that people would be making around Jof and that situation I think are to do with the landscape back when they were playing. It’s completely different now. There’s opportunities for cricketers now that there wasn’t 10, 15, 20 years ago. Yes, in an ideal situation, it would be unbelievably great to have everyone who you want available every single opportunity. But it’s not the way of cricket at the moment. There’s so much more out there for players,” Stokes said in the pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
“There is a situation where it could get messy and players like Jofra might not play for England again if you handle it a different way,” Stokes said, “and that’s not good for anyone. Jof, I think, has shown that he is committed and loves playing for England. Just because he’s not available for this first test match does not change that,” he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, former New Zealand cricketer and broadcaster Simon Doull had lashed into Archer, saying he has no interest in playing Test cricket.
“It’s ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous. How are you paying this guy up to a million pound a year and he’s not available for your first Test match? It’s absolutely ludicrous,” Doull said on Sky Sports.
