JOFRA ARCHER: The truth about my West Indies ‘friends’

There might be a focus on me playing against West Indies given my upbringing in Barbados but I promise you that this series will not feel any different to me from any other. It’s just cricket. As was the World Cup match against them at the Ageas Bowl last year.

And it actually upset me to see headlines, following a Kemar Roach interview, suggesting I and the West Indies players will not be friends.

Let’s not get this out of proportion. There will be rivalry there but when Kemar said there will be ‘no friendships’ it sounds a lot worse than it actually is.

Jofra Archer (right) says there will be rivalry vs West Indies but they will be friends off the pitch

Obviously, we all grew up in the Caribbean and it’s customary for us to say ‘we will be friends at the end of the game’. That’s exactly what he meant. 

It’s not as though he is going to walk past me or be rude, it’s just that when we are on the field we will play hard cricket.

Chemar Holder plays Xbox with me online all the time but it’s not like any of us are going to be buddy, buddy in the middle. We might make a small joke every now and again but it’s not going to be overly friendly because everyone’s got a job to do.

I will see them when the game is over but once we have got our whites on for our countries it’s a whole different ball game.

Kemar Roach suggested there will be ‘no friendships’ when Windies arrive for three-test series

NO ISSUES WITH ELBOW

It was only in training so it doesn’t really count for much but it was nice to knock back Sam Curran’s off-stump. It was a typical response from Sam when he told me to remember to bring all my kit to the Oval next time so he could get even.

Rory Burns, Ollie Pope and Sam were the first batters I bowled to, and I have also bowled to Zak Crawley at Hove. 

This past fortnight has been a lot different from the previous few weeks of practice as the intensity when you introduce batters goes up without you even noticing.

It meant I was blowing by the end of my first session. That’s what I would have wanted anyway after a lengthy lay-off and I feel as though I am where I need to be at the moment as we prepare to return to matches.

The Barbadian confirmed there are no issues after a lengthy lay-off with an elbow injury

Bowling has been a gradual progression but despite the fact that I was resting my elbow injury when we went into lockdown in March, I have followed similar loads to the other England Test bowlers.

The first few days, I bowled four overs. Then in the second week, I upped it to six, a couple of weeks later it became two spells of between five and six overs at a time.

So far everything feels like clockwork. Crunch in, crunch out, my body feels fresh, and there are no issues with my right elbow whatsoever, touch wood. 

When I run into bowl, I don’t think about it, just about bowling the ball as I always have done.

Archer revealed it was nice to knock back Sam Curran’s off-stump during training recently

In fact, last week when I returned to London for training, I was sent for a scan to check the stress fracture had healed. It was pretty much a box-ticking exercise as I have not experienced any pain and the pictures confirmed all is good.

Despite the fact that the three matches of this series are played in such a short space of time, I actually think I could play all three — but obviously everyone will be a bit cautious in terms of workload, thinking about the body and what lies ahead.

So it won’t be the ability to do it that will stop bowlers being ever-present but concern about the physical implications of doing so.

NICE TO TEST NEGATIVE!

We have all been tested for coronavirus in preparation for heading into our Test match training camp in Southampton on Tuesday.

Beforehand I checked out the testing procedure and social media made it look like a lot harder work than it proved. Some of the tests I’d seen online looked horrid. Annoyingly intrusive. But using the extra-long swab buds, placed a couple of centimetres inside the nose and throat, it was actually OK. And it was good to test negative. 

Being locked in hotel rooms when we eat will take some getting used to but for the golf-playing guys the whole experience of team isolation might not be strange at all.

There is a golf simulator in the team room and a course on the ground and you will be sure to find them there in downtime. The guys who don’t play may find it a tougher few weeks ahead. Am I a golfer? Do I look like a golfer? One hundred per cent, you will find me on the Xbox!

The England test squad will be tested upon arrival at Ageas Bowl ahead of full-scale practice

NOTHING BEATS LIVE CRICKET

It’s exciting that England and West Indies will be the teams to start world cricket back up again, laying down the platform for other countries to follow.

Obviously as the only cricket on, all eyes will be on it, and I expect that there will be a lot more television viewers than would have been the case had things been normal.

I expect people who don’t usually watch cricket will tune in — because it’s live sport, not pre-recorded. If they are like me they will have had their fill of re-runs.

The 25-year-old has been watching Sky Sports repeats but admits nothing beats live cricket

I’ve watched so many old games played on Sky Sports. My feelings are that watching something played live really should pique some interest.

Since sport started back up again, they have experimented with crowd noise being piped into commentaries. As I mentioned in a previous column, I was all for these kinds of innovations being used in the grounds themselves. I’ve been watching football and it does feel and sound very different without anyone in the ground.

Now I’ve had time to reflect, though, I reckon we won’t even notice that the stands are empty in the first game back — we will be that excited to play.

Cricket is also a bit more of a social game. You are never too far away from one of your other team-mates, so you can always wander over for a bit of a chat. For example, if I am at mid-off, I could always wander over to mid-on and have a joke with Stuart Broad. I can’t wait.