‘We’ll have to see where he’s at’ – Bayliss cools Archer Test debut talk
Trevor Bayliss has revealed that Jofra Archer may be rested from the first Ashes Test, which starts at Edgbaston on Thursday, August 1.
Despite not yet having made his debut in the longer format, Archer has been strongly tipped by many to appear in this summer’s Ashes series. While he is still likely to feature at some point, the Barbados-born pacer is recovering from a side injury he picked up during England’s successful World Cup campaign and Bayliss suggested a decision is yet to be made on his participation.
“We don’t want to necessarily risk him,” Bayliss told BBC Radio 5 Live. “He played for Sussex in a T20 match and came through that well. Test match cricket, five days, longer spells, is a little bit of a different beast so we’ll have to see where he’s at and take a little bit from the medical people as well.”
Archer came through a test of his fitness for Sussex against Surrey
Another factor in the possible non-selection of Archer will be the strength and depth of seam and swing bowlers available to England, with many fans trying to come up with ways in which England could include the likes of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, and Archer all in the same team.
Bayliss indicated that England may look to employ a rotation policy over the series. “We’ve got a good strong group of bowlers who we think can do the job over the five Tests,” he said.
England are coming into the first Ashes Test off the back of a close escape in a one-off Test against Ireland. They were skittled for 85 in the first innings, and nightwatchman-opener Jack Leach top scored in the second innings with 92, before Broad and Woakes shared all ten Irish wickets in the final innings of the game as the visitors were demolished for just 38.
Bayliss said he gave the team a “fairly stern chat” after the game, with an emphasis on how they mentally approached their batting. “I thought the example Jack Leach showed was the example a lot of the other batters need to learn from. He was very focused on what he wanted to do and was very clear in his own mind how he was going to go about it. We speak about that a lot, having a plan for any situation you find yourself in and being clear with your thoughts. Don’t try and just bluff your way through it.”
