Lackadaisical Sums Up Archer Perfectly
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Personally I think he has found fame and fortune and has no idea how to handle it.
There was huge hype when the English fast bowler Joffra Archer came into the Test arena. He was seen as their savior in the Ashes who was meant to blow batsmen away with his terrifying pace. I think personally he has been built up into something that he isn't and he has plenty to learn before he is a top bowler.
England fast tracked Archer into the Test team from his previous results achieved in one day cricket and the county championship. The English were desperate to win the Ashes against Australia and saw Archer as their secret weapon. A bowler who has the pace to worry any batsmen. The first few tests he was a handful but he is too erratic.
What has been very obvious is his attitude sucks. I say this as wickets have obviously come easy for him up until he arrived in the test match arena. Since the Ashes series wickets have dried up and his results are not good enough. I would say his application is wrong as he is searching for the wicket taking ball too often.
Archer needs to learn to bowl in tandem with the other bowlers in the team to create pressure. At the moment on helpful faster wickets he is no threat which is not what everyone expects. He hasn't stepped it up a gear and his speeds have dropped again. This morning he was starting at 148 km/h and within his third spell was down to 138 km/h.
This is exactly what we saw in the Ashes and in New Zealand with a much slower pace than expected. Bowling between 135 and 138 km/h makes you just another quick bowler with nothing special. In New Zealand he took 3 wickets for 202 runs using the Kookaburra ball and had no effect on the Test matches.
One thing I have picked up is his attitude as it is too laid back like some of the West Indian cricketers. I get the feeling he thinks he is better than he actually is and possibly things have come too easy and too quickly for him. He possibly will perform at some point and has a great spell in him somewhere, but if he can't get wickets on helpful tracks then he has to lift himself somehow.
Michael Holding summed it up in one word today saying he is lackadaisical which is spot on. The definition of that is someone who is lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy. How long can he carry on like this justifying his place in the team. Would Archer make other Test teams around the world and the answer is possibly, but not a definite. One thing for sure is he would be given a wake up call by the coaches with his sub standard performances. His honeymoon period is well and truly over and needs to do something quickly.
Sounds like an issue that many other teams have as well. If you can't work together with your team and get along with them you are going to struggle. In baseball pitchers have to have a variety of pitches and they need to support their team.
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I think it's a bit early to call it either way and the whole building him up to be the next big thing only to knock him down again within a couple of months is just tabloid journalism at its worst. Judge him after 20 Tests in various conditions against various opposition.
Yes, his attitude hasn't been great but then you could say the same of any of England's cricketers on the tour of New Zealand. All the bowlers were well down on pace, there was no intensity in the field and it looked like many of them didn't want to be there. Given that they had virtually zero preparation for that tour, the games didn't count towards the ICC Test Championship and the whole squad had just come off an epic 2019 and were emotionally and physically shattered then you could say that they shouldn't have been there...
He is a very relaxed character and that has helped him in his early career to be a crucial part of the World Cup-winning squad and the Ashes that followed. To bring him into the 50-over squad that had gone to number 1 in the world over the previous 4 years just weeks before the World Cup and then to bring him in as a replacement for James Anderson in the Test squad for what is always the most eagerly anticipated series in English cricket would have put massive pressure on him so I'm not sure you can justify that statement that he hasn't handled fame and fortune well because his stats and performances in what is still the infancy of his career suggest otherwise.
I would expect any player who has only been an international cricketer for 6 months to still be learning his trade. You mention that he needs to bowl better in tandem with others, that may be true but the more experienced players in the squad, the captain and the coaches need to understand him and what his strengths are too. They bowled him into the ground in New Zealand and I get the feeling that Root just expects to throw him the ball and have him streak in at 150kph and cause havoc every time. No one in the history of the game can do that for 42 overs which is what he bowled in the 1st Test against New Zealand.
I do get it but your coach is Chris Silverwood who was a bowling coach and should be more knowledgeable. They are going to bowl him into the ground if they carry on the way they are. I have noticed the laid back attitude and I personally think the riches he has gained already from the IPl and such like are going to be against him as Test cricket is hard and a grind. I don't see him as a grinding type of person like an Anderson who has patience. He just comes across as though he isn't putting any effort in. Todays track at Centurion was more than helpful and he should have been amongst the wickets. He got a number 9 tail ender out which is not exactly what he has been selected for.
Root needs to bowl him for 3 over bursts and use him regularly at full pace otherwise he will struggle on the slower tracks in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. I am keen to see what Rabada does over the next day as he is also still fairly raw, but been around a little longer.
Yeah be interesting to see how SA bowl. I think 280-300 is a pretty decent score.
Anderson is a good example of a cricketer who needed a few bites at Test cricket before he got it right. You could accuse him of being a bowler who was looking for that magic delivery every time and it took him 3 or 4 years to work out how to be consistent in Test cricket. England need the same patience with Archer