Archer had insisted that the Old Trafford wicket didn’t have enough assistance for the pacers, which was why he wasn’t crossing the 90 mph mark, as is generally expected of him.

“This wicket is not a wicket you’re really going to try to bend your back on,” Archer had said after the second day’s play. “We bowled first and there was a little bit there in the morning but eventually as the game’s gone on…actually it’s spinning on day two so that says a lot about the wicket right now.”

“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. 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.”