Jofra Archer’s selfishness undermines day of promise for Joe Root’s England against West Indies - Chris Waters

Jofra Archer might not have driven to Barnard Castle, but Brighton was bad enough as the England fast bowler broke strict biosecure protocols and was dropped for the second Test against West Indies at Old Trafford.

At best, Archer was stupid and selfish; at worst, it smacked of the sort of self-entitlement that possibly suggests someone with more money than sense.

Either way, watch out for the Cummings-style press conference in the Harris Garden at Lord’s with Archer protesting that he had to test his eyesight before the long trek north – or perhaps not.

After all, Archer must now go into five days of isolation and complete two negative Covid-19 tests before being allowed to rejoin the squad, having taken a 100-mile detour back home after the first Test in Southampton, reportedly to see his girlfriend.

At least Archer – unlike Cummings – had the decency to apologise.

On a day when England scored 207-3 after being sent into bat, it was perhaps tempting to pass off Archer’s indiscretion as the naive action of a 25-year-old and not exactly the crime of the century.

It certainly wasn’t that; after all, he didn’t steal somebody’s subscription to The Yorkshire Post, or anything of that nature.

But let’s consider the situation for a second.

This Test series is being played against the backdrop of the most extraordinary restrictions ever seen in this country.

The West Indies squad had to go into quarantine as soon as they arrived here.

England have had a similar bubble around their own players.

Those players were explicitly told that they were not to take any breaks on the drive from Southampton to Manchester – save for the use of a designated biosecure county ground for lunch, and pre-approved petrol stations.

The information could not have been clearer.

Archer’s actions, which only came to light on Wednesday night after the squad had been named, potentially jeopardised the whole series and the financial health of a sport seeking to mitigate losses of up to £380m.

Small wonder the England management is spitting 
feathers.

No matter what you think of the protocols and procedures, this series is the result of a huge effort by the England and Wales Cricket Board and West Indies Cricket, one that has involved extensive consultations with the government and required an enormous amount of work by an enormous number of people.

Archer has made himself and the sport look like a laughing stock.

At the very least he should be dropped for next week’s third and final Test in Manchester too – or is it just Alex Hales who is banished to the doghouse?

Archer’s absence meant that England showed four changes to the side that lost by four wickets in Southampton, a result that rendered this a must-win game for one of that returning quartet – captain Joe Root.

The Yorkshireman was back after attending the birth of his second child, and he scored 23 before edging a drive at Alzarri Joseph to Jason Holder at second slip.

Considering that Root replaced Joe Denly, and intending no disrespect to either man, a score of 23 made it feel as if the Kent player had not actually gone away.

Ironically, although perhaps not unpredictably, the man who was effectively preferred to Denly by dint of his performance in Southampton, his Kent team-mate Zak Crawley, suffered the ignominy of a golden duck, caught at leg-slip by Holder off the spinner Roston Chase.

Had Denly played instead, Sod’s Law dictates that he would probably have made at least a triple hundred.

In truth, these were not especially easy batting conditions beneath slate-grey skies and with the floodlights on, with the toss perhaps not a bad one to lose.

Root admitted that he would have bowled first too and said that he was not disappointed when that didn’t happen.

He will certainly be satisfied with the close of play score and the performance of Dom Sibley, the opening batsman who led the way with an unbeaten 86.

Sibley is perfect for the grind-it-out style that England sometimes need in Test cricket, as opposed to the one-day-type method that has proved their undoing.

It is difficult to recall more than a handful of shots that Sibley played in his vigil, but he soaked up 253 balls in batting all day to put England into a potentially match-winning situation.

Sibley offered one chance; he was badly dropped on 68 by Holder at second slip off Shannon Gabriel when the total was 164-3. Otherwise, Sibley was solid in company with Ben Stokes, who contributed 59 from 159 balls, their stand worth 126.

The other man dismissed on a day when rain delayed the start by 90 minutes was Rory Burns, who fell the ball before Crawley – the last before lunch – when trapped lbw by Chase.

Burns wasted a review in challenging it, but it was nothing compared to the waste of Archer’s absence.

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