Butcher rubbishes Archer's statement on Naseem

Former England cricketer Mark Butcher is not pleased with right-arm pacer Jofra Archer’s statement on Pakistan quick Naseem Shah’s bowling strategy in the first Test at Old Trafford, which the hosts won by three wickets.

The Barbados-born pacer had said that the Old Trafford pitch was not conducive for express fast bowling and he was surprised by Pakistan rookie pacer’s approach on it.

“It’s not every day you’re going to come in at 90mph. I’ve seen Shah started bowling 90mph so we’ll see how he goes on later on. No one is a robot, so I’ll be very, very interested to see what he can produce a bit later. This is not a wicket you’re really going to try to bend your back on,” said Archer.

While speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Butcher said that England had the advantage of having an extra pacer than Pakistan, so there was no reason for Archer to not replicate Shah’s approach and bowl express fast.  

“I wish he wouldn’t have opened his mouth. The very next day the 17-year-old [Naseem] runs up and bowls 90 miles an hour every ball. And they’ve only got a three-man pace attack. All of these things are very much dependent on the circumstances you find yourselves in,” said Butcher.

“As one of four, if you are the fastest, you bowl fast, that’s it. And you certainly don’t go out there and say that it’s not a pitch to bend your back on and then watch a bloke run in and bowl at speed of light the next day, hit people on the head and explode one off Ollie Pope in the first innings. That’s just daft,” he added.

Butcher also believes that Archer needs to be more careful with his statements in the media.

“I think he’s learning the hard way. He has made two massive errors in this thing and there is a lot of goodwill, particularly from me towards Jof. The mistake about going home – pick your moments to be a buffoon, that really wasn’t one of them – and then saying it’s not a pitch to bend your back on as one of four. PR the man please, someone.”

Last month, Archer had been excluded from the second Test against the West Indies following a breach of the team’s bio-secure protocols.