Jofra Archer insists his focus is entirely on helping England level the series against New Zealand after he was subjected to racial abuse during the first Test in Mount Maunganui.
The England fast bowler, who was born in Barbados, was subjected to ‘disgusting racial insults’ from a fan as he left the field after his dismissal on day five of the match at Bay Oval.
Archer had scored 30 off 50 balls, briefly offering England lower-order resistance before they slipped to an innings-and-65-run defeat to go 1-0 down in the two-match series.
The Ashes and World Cup star admits the incident was a ‘real shame’ but says he has ‘moved on’ and is now focused on helping England level the series when the second Test starts in Hamilton on Thursday evening.
‘The first thing I want to say about what happened towards the end of the Test at Mount Maunganui is that I’m over it,’ Archer said in a column for the Daily Mail.
‘I’ve left what happened at the ground and I’ve moved on. I should also say it was just one person who was shouting stuff.
‘But I found the incident a real shame. When you come to another country, you half expect fans to have a go at your cricket.
‘If someone wants to shout at me and tell me I’m bowling badly, that’s fine. I may not agree but it’s fine. It’s part of the experience of being a touring cricketer.
‘To hear racism, though – that’s another matter. There is no time or place for it in any walk of life, let alone cricket. It’s just not called for.
A bit disturbing hearing racial insults today whilst battling to help save my team , the crowd was been amazing this week except for that one guy , @TheBarmyArmy was good as usual also
— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) November 25, 2019
‘I don’t want to go into the details of what was said but I know what I heard. I thought members of the crowd around the guy might have pulled him up because I could hear him from the pitch as I was walking off.
‘I guess they didn’t. But I know I wasn’t hearing stuff. I told the security guard what had happened and that was it.’
England suffered a crushing defeat to New Zealand in Tauranga, with the hosts scoring over 600 in their one and only innings and occupying more than 200 overs at the crease.
Archer, who claimed figures of 1-107 from 42 overs, says England’s biggest mistake was in only posting a first-innings score of 353 when they were 277-4 on day two.
‘Now, my only goal is to make sure we finish this series on a high because we were all disappointed with the result in the first Test,’ Archer added.
‘Yes, we should have batted longer in the first innings but I can honestly say I don’t think there’s much more we could have done after that.
‘I was expecting it to be tough bowling on a flat pitch with the Kookaburra ball but it probably turned out to be even tougher than I’d feared.
‘I also think they batted on the best days of the game. Even when BJ Watling and Mitchell Santner had their partnership, we never let them hurt us: it was two and a bit an over.
‘They did really well, exactly what their team wanted, but we were pleased they never got away from us in terms of run-rate.
‘We were in the field for 201 overs but no one mumbled, no one groaned. The team is in a good space right now, even after we were pushed mentally to breaking point.’
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