Jofra Archer ready for final Test, says Joe Root

NICK FRIEND: The England captain added that the team will wait until Friday morning before deciding whether Ben Stokes is fit to bowl in the deciding Test against West Indies

Joe Root believes that Jofra Archer will be ready for action when the third Test gets underway at Emirates Old Trafford on Friday.

The fast bowler has endured a difficult week in the spotlight since missing the second match of the series after breaching bio-secure protocols.

He was fined, warned and forced to spend five days in self-isolation before returning to train with the team, and he has since revealed in an emotional column in the Daily Mail that he suffered racist abuse in the aftermath on social media.

Speaking on Thursday, however, Root said that Archer had “got his smile back” and has been “bowling the speed of light” in the nets against some of England’s batsmen.

“I think Jofra will be ready for it. He’s had two very good days of training,” Root explained.

“There have been some good conversations with Jofra over the past few days. It is really important that he’s in a mentally good place and a good enough place to play the game. That will be factored into things as well. We’re all here to support him and here to get around him.

“He knows that he’s not going through this on his own, and I think that’s really important. He had a smile back on his face because he was playing again, he was back out there with ball in hand, and doing what he loves most which is playing cricket. Of course, we’ll make sure that he’s absolutely okay to go, but very excited to see him smiling and enjoying his cricket.”

On the racist abuse Archer referred to – he has forwarded it onto the ECB, Root added: “It was disgusting actually to see some of the stuff he’s had to put up with over the last week, it really is.

“No one should have to deal with that whether you're a professional sportsman or a kid growing up at school. It's deeply disappointing and there's no other word for it.

“No one within this squad should feel like they’re isolated or on their own. Of course, sometimes that can be quite difficult when you’re left on your own in a room at night thinking about the game. You’ve got your own thoughts flying through your mind. It can be a lonely place sometimes.

^{Ben Stokes performed heroics with bat and ball in the second Test}

“Everyone has felt that, especially if things are going against you or things within the game that don’t quite feel right. Regardless of if you’ve got five or six of your closest mates in the same team as you, you can sometimes feel lonely and on your own.

“It’s very important then that he’s willing to talk to the guys in the dressing room and of course we’re there for him to listen to him. We’re desperate for him to be smiling and enjoying his cricket, and it was great to see that in the last two days.”

He added, too, that the formation of England’s bowling attack may well be at least partially informed by Ben Stokes’ fitness to contribute. He took himself out of the attack four balls into his 15th over of West Indies’ second innings, citing stiffness.

He will play as a batsman if he is unable to act as a fourth seamer – after all, he has averaged 114.3 with the bat in the series thus far, striking his slowest Test century in the first innings in Manchester, before hitting the quickest fifty by an England opener in the second.

“He pretty much spent the whole time on the field, so it was a long old game for him,” Root added. “But it does take a lot to keep him down, if you like, and to take him out of the action. We’ll see how he is in the morning. You look at the squad of players we’ve got, we’ve got plenty of brilliant options to choose from. I feel like whichever combination we decide to go with is definitely worthy of taking 20 wickets.”

On the importance of looking after Stokes, a generational, all-encompassing cricketer, Root stressed: “We talk about looking after everyone throughout this summer, with there being so many games in such a short space of time.

“When you are 150 per cent every ball for six games on the bounce, it’s always going to take its toll at some point. Obviously, we all want to make sure we get the most out of Ben and the best out of him. I’m sure he wants to ride the wave. It must be quite difficult when you’re playing as well as he is to maybe have to rein it back in every now and again, when you just want to keep going and ride the crest of it.

“We all want him to do that as well; but it is important that he’s looked after. He’s matured so much. I think we saw that in actually him feeling it and saying: ‘You know what, I’m not right to finish the over.’ That’s a massive step forward for him – it shows his maturity and where he’s come with his cricket.

“We wouldn’t have seen that a few years ago. He’d have just kept going and might have done himself some real damage. It’s something that we’re obviously paying great attention to for Ben and the rest of the squad.”

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