Jofra Archer was in the middle of a Test match, shouldn’t have replied: Tino Best

Stuart Broad’s omission from the Southampton Test against the West Indies raised a lot of eyebrows. Ben Stokes, England’s stand-in skipper, went under the cosh for leaving out the Brits’ second-highest wicket-taker in Test cricket. Among many, Tino Best, the former Caribbean fast bowler, also was surprised and he said that Broad should have been selected ahead of Jofra Archer.

Best said that Broad lashing out his omission wasn’t questionable by any means. The Three Lions speedster previously was shocked after being left out since he performed decently in the Ashes last year and in the away series against South Africa. In the meantime, Archer was not going to die wondering. He hit back at Best with a nasty tweet.

With all this knowledge how are you not a coach yet ? https://t.co/AU0m4LdgVU

— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) July 10, 2020

I asked Jofra Archer not to attack me personally, says Best  

Best has now opened up on the matter, saying that the issue has been “blown out of proportion”. The former Caribbean pacer reckoned that Archer wasn’t running in full throttle like his partners- Mark Wood and James Anderson. Also, he said that the bowler shouldn’t have replied in the middle of the game at the Rose Bowl.

“The whole Jofra Archer thing was just blown out of proportion. To be honest, when I tweeted, it was only about the way he was bowling in the first innings. He didn’t put in as much effort as I saw from Mark Wood and Jimmy Anderson. I thought he was just going through the motions a little bit,” Best told to Sportskeeda.

“I am here in Barbados; I didn’t expect him to reply. My first tweet was that he was bowling military medium, and that he can bowl faster than that. You’ve got Wood who was absolutely steaming in every ball, and then you’ve got him (Archer) a little lethargic in his approach,” he stated.

“He then replied saying I should be a coach, so I asked him not to attack me personally. I wasn’t trying to disrespect him in any way. But he was in the middle of a Test match, and I don’t think he should have replied. The older you get, you realise that you can’t fight every battle,” Best added.

Archer didn’t get a wicket in the first innings, but made some amends in the second. With England defending 200, he kept them in the game, picking up three crucial wickets. He missed the Old Trafford Test after being ruled out due to breach of biosecurity protocols.