England star Jofra Archer on Wednesday revealed that he faced racist abuses on social media after he was banned from the 2nd Test against West Indies in Manchester. The right-arm bowler, while travelling from Southampton to Manchester, took a detour to visit his home in Birmingham. In doing so, he breached the bio-secure protocols announced by the ICC as a measure to reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19.
In a column on The Daily Mail, Archer, who was placed under isolation, and now has been tested negative twice for the virus, said that he made an error of judgment but did not commit a crime. “This whole week has been extremely tough and to spend five days in isolation has given me a lot of thinking time on where I am at. To be stuck in a hotel room in Manchester was hard,” he wrote.
“When I walked outside of my room for the first time since being placed into self-isolation for breaking the Covid-19 protocols, I heard the cameras clicking with every single step I took. The whole spectacle made me feel uneasy. I know what I did was an error of judgement and I have suffered the consequences of that. I haven’t committed a crime and I want to start feeling myself again,” Archer added.
Archer further revealed that Ben Stokes advised him on how to deal with the spotlight. “Now, I need to be 100 per cent mentally right so that I can throw myself into my cricket this week,” the bowler added.
But the bowler admitted that he will be scrutinized heavily in the 3rd Test if he plays. “To be straight, if I play and don’t bowl 90 miles an hour it’s going to be news. If I don’t bowl 90 miles per hour for long enough it’s going to be news. If I don’t put my left sock on first, it’s going to be news. I understand that is the scrutiny of playing at this level and being in that spotlight.”
Archer further revealed that he faced racist abuses in the past few weeks and has approached England and Wales Cricket Board over the same. “Over the last few days, I have unfollowed and muted a lot of social media profiles to get away from it. I won’t be going back on it. I find it unnecessary noise. Take two wickets and everyone is back on the bandwagon again. It’s a fickle, fickle world we live in,” he wrote.
“Some of the abuse I have taken over the past few days on Instagram has been racist and I have decided that enough is enough. Since Wilfried Zaha, the Crystal Palace footballer, was abused by a 12-year-old online I drew a line and I will not allow anything to pass, so I have forwarded on my complaints to the ECB and that will go through the correct process,” he added.
“Yes, I made a mistake in not driving to Old Trafford directly from Southampton between matches. But people make mistakes,” Archer wrote. “I accept that I put the other guys at risk. I did not follow the advice and therefore apologised to my team-mates, to the West Indies team and to everyone involved in the series,” he added.
Archer further said that he has faced his punishment and now it is time to move on. “Now I have done my time, it’s over, and I am trying to move on. I accepted my punishment of a match fee fine at the disciplinary hearing on Friday evening and it was pretty painless,” he wrote.
Archer further expressed gratitude to his teammates who stuck by him in what was a difficult time for him. “It wasn’t a pleasant experience to be confined to my hotel room for five days even though I had my Xbox and workout stuff with me so I could make the most of a bad situation. But most of my team-mates showed their support by getting in touch. I played Call of Duty with several of them and Joe Root checked in on me with a call daily. I thank those that have stuck by me,” he wrote.
