English Test captain Ben Stokes has defended pacer Jofra Archer after the latter attracted plenty of criticism over his absence from England’s opening Test match against New Zealand at the iconic Lord’s Stadium. Archer was ruled out of the 1st of a 3-match Test series in order to take a short break after spending 3 months with the Rajasthan Royals in the recently concluded Indian Premier League season.
Jofra Archer was a key player behind Rajasthan’s surge to the top 4 and playoffs qualification. The Royals defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Eliminator 1 but remained on the losing side in Qualifier 2 against eventual runners-up Gujarat Titans.
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Simon Doull bashes Jofra Archer for missing 1st Test against New Zealand, here’s what he said
The right-arm pacer, who was retained by RR for a whopping INR 12.50 crores, had a tremendous season, finishing 3rd in the Purple Cap (most wickets) race with 25 scalps to his name. He missed out on the individual honor by just 4 wickets with Gujarat’s South African pacer Kagiso Rabada winning the award.
Archer played a full season of 16 matches from March to May, right after travelling back and forth to India and Sri Lanka for the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 earlier this year. Having spent so much time on the road, the 31-year-old decided to take a breather before joining the England national team.
However, that decision of his did not sit well with a few cricket experts and pundits who called out Jofra Archer for his lack of interest in playing Test cricket for England. Former Kiwi cricketer turned commentator Simon Doull was majorly critical about Archer’s decision, calling it “absolutely ludicrous”.
Stokes refrains from calling out Archer, says cricket in modern era has changed
In Archer’s defense, his England captain Ben Stokes claimed that the cricketing landscape has evolved drastically over the last two decades with players getting lucrative offers from franchise leagues around the world, something that did no exist 15-20 years ago.
While Stokes admitted that having important players available for every match is the perfect thing but claimed that it is no longer a realistic expectation.
“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 unbel9evably great to have everyone who you want available every single opportunity. But it’s not the way of cricket at the moment.” – Ben Stokes said.
Stokes also stated that such things should be handled calmly and not aggressively as it might lead to Jofra Archer not wanting to play for England ever again. “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.” – Ben Stokes added.
Stokes further stated that missing one Test match does not mean that Archer isn’t committed to playing for England, affirming that the pacer loves to represent the national side. “Jof, I think, has shown that he is committed and loves playing for England. Just because he’s not available for this 1st Test match does not change that.” – Stokes concluded.
The 1st England Vs New Zealand Test match at the Lord’s Stadium starts today from 3:30PM (IST) onwards.
