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‘Less batter-friendly’ – Jofra Archer explains why white-ball cricket suits him more

by Wisden Staff 2-minute read

Jofra Archer, whose role as a bowler in the England Test team has been under heavy discussion, feels that white-ball cricket “suits him more”.

Archer played two out of the three Tests against Pakistan in their recent series, picking up four wickets, identical to his returns in the previous series against West Indies. Having played his last ODI – the 2019 ODI World Cup final at Lord’s – more than a year ago, Archer is now looking forward to the upcoming T20I and ODI series against the touring Australian contingent.

The England quick hopes the change in formats will help him add wickets to his tally as “white-ball cricket suits him more”. He believes limited-overs cricket is tougher for the batsmen as they are expected to score quickly, which plays into the bowlers’ hands.

“We finish the summer with two series against Australia, starting next week, and hopefully the change of formats will coincide with me taking some wickets,” Archer wrote in his column for the Daily Mail. “Partly due to my elbow injury last winter and partly due to being rested, I have not played a limited-overs match for England since last year’s World Cup final.

“In some ways, white-ball cricket suits me more because I find that batters have to come at me — and I am all for the opportunity to get them out. I view it as a less batter-friendly version of cricket because of the onus on them to go harder, score quicker. Conversely, it is a lot harder to go wicketless for a bowler.”

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