‘Take it off, will ya?’: Australian great slams struggling Archer, tells him to remove his gold chain

2 months ago 6

Former Australian Ashes hero Ryan Harris has taken aim at Jofra Archer, declaring the struggling England quick should remove his extravagant gold chain because it could help him bowl better for longer.

“If he takes it off, he might be able to bowl quicker. We all know you’ve got a bit of money, mate – take it off, will ya?” Harris said on SEN radio on Friday.

The tactics adopted by England spearhead Jofra Archer and his fellow fast bowlers have been questioned by former Test stars.

“He came out with 60 runs to go and pulled the handbrake off which, from everyone’s point of view, was so disappointing. But what we also have to think about is this bloke hasn’t played any red-ball cricket, Test cricket, back-to-back cricket for a number of years.

“Any cricket he has played has been four-over stuff, or the odd one-dayer. His body is wrecked – we know that. He’s got a bad elbow. It’s bloody hard to bowl fast, and you have got to practise it, and do a lot of it.”

Pace ace Archer has struggled to have a consistent impact through two losing Tests so far this Ashes series, his return from injury not going to plan with only three wickets at 57.

He touched career-high speeds exceeding 150km/h late in Australia’s second innings in Brisbane when the game was all but gone, sparking questions as to why he had largely been unable to do so in Perth and through most of the Gabba Test.

Harris, a former fast bowler and now coach of South Australia, also said Archer’s decision to carry a pillow to the Gabba dressing room for the day-night Test was a bad look, and something he would not have done.

“And if I ever did, [coach] Darren Lehmann would have told me where to go, so would have [captain] Michael Clarke and the rest of the team,” Harris said.

Where to now? Skipper Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum have much on their plate heading into next Wedneday’s Third Test in Adelaide.

Harris’ assessment came after Test great Ricky Ponting said Archer had “just embarrassed himself, and he embarrassed his team the other night”.

“To bowl his fastest spell ever in Test cricket, when Australia’s chasing 60 … it [his bowling at high speed] has been there the whole time, it’s been up his sleeve, and England have needed him to do it, and he hasn’t been willing to do it,” Ponting said on Thursday, also on SEN.

“Day three, when they needed him to do it, he rocks up with his pillow under his arm, and that was always going to be a bad day for England from that moment.

“As soon as anyone saw that, it was going to be, ‘OK, there’s their mindset for the day. They’re just going to rock up and Australia’s going to fall over, and we’ll bowl them out’.”

Archer and his fellow bowlers were accused of lacking patience and taking a scattergun approach, with former Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie admitting he had been baffled by the tourists’ approach.

Skipper Ben Stokes has often turned to a short-pitched attack with, at times, his fielders spread on the boundary in a bid to take wickets, but this had little to no impact.

“It just feels like, ‘If in doubt, let’s just spread the field, and bowl short’,” Gillespie said on The Fast Bowling Cartel podcast with former Test teammates Damien Fleming and Glenn McGrath.

“It’s actually baffled me, I have to be honest, the tactics and plans of the English bowlers. That’s what I said – is it the captain and coach, or is it the bowlers, themselves, that have come up with these plans?”

Gillespie, once in the frame to be a future England coach, said he felt as if Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum had determined the field placings, when he insists bowlers should also have a major say.

“I think you need a little bit of democracy there. A captain only ever needs to ask a bowler one question: ‘How are you trying to get the batter out?’ That will then dictate what field settings are then required,” Gillespie said.

“I think bowlers should have a real say in that because, after all, they are the ones bowling it.”

The tourists have had much to think about during their sabbatical in Queensland this week, before leaving for Adelaide on Saturday ahead of next week’s pivotal third Test. They are due to have their first net session in Adelaide on Sunday.

‘He embarrassed his team the other night’

Ricky Ponting on England firebrand Jofra Archer

Fellow quicks Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse were also disappointing in Brisbane, Fleming critical of their inability to build pressure.

“If you look at their pitch maps, it’s like an artist spraying paint, isn’t it? There is a low percentage of balls into that avenue of apprehension,” Fleming said, referring to the traditional attacking line of on, or just outside, off stump.

“And you see that [Mitchell] Starc has been brilliant but [Michael] Neser, [Scott] Boland and [Brendan] Doggett, particularly in that second innings, were constantly into that zone.”

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