Jofra Archer has indicated that he wishes to operate with the new ball in Tests, but is “quite happy” with his current role of bowling first change to seniors James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

Archer, who’s had to deal with heavy expectations since his debut last year, has been the subject of widespread debate over his exact role in the side, especially with the long-standing pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad occupying the opening slots.

“The challenge for any fast bowler is to work as hard as you can and do what you are asked to do so that you can get into a position where you are given the choice of taking the new ball,” Archer wrote in his column for Daily Mail.

Since his debut, Archer has opened in only 12 out of the 21 Test innings he’s bowled in, picking 27 wickets at 27.18, two out of his three five-wicket hauls, and his best figures of 6-45. However, in the just-concluded series against Pakistan, it was Anderson and Broad combining as a new-ball pairing, leaving Archer and Chris Woakes as “first-change warriors”.

“But I am in a team with two world-class bowlers in Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad. I have a joke with Chris Woakes that we are the first-change warriors.

Since Jofra Archer made his England debut, Pat Cummins is the only bowler in the world to bowl more deliveries in international cricket.

Do England need to handle him more carefully?

✍ @benjonescricket#ENGvPAK https://t.co/p80qKf4f6E

— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) August 12, 2020

“Neither of us can bowl any earlier with those two leading our attack but we are a unit, and I am quite happy with what is being asked of me. I am in a good space right now.

“As an attack, we still managed to take 14 wickets in the weather-ruined last Test, so the only thing that stopped us was that we just needed a bit more time.”