England and West Indies will face each other in a bio-secure environment. The first Test is scheduled to be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton (July 8-12).
England's Jofra Archer (R) delivers a ball during the first day of the first Test cricket match between South Africa and England at The SuperSport Park Stadium at Centurion near Pretoria on December 26, 2019. (Photo by Catherine Kotze / AFP)
England speedster Jofra Archer believes it will be exciting to be a part of the upcoming three-match Test series against the West Indies as it will also be the resumption of international cricket which has been in a standstill for the past three months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
England and West Indies will face each other in a bio-secure environment. The first Test is scheduled to be played at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton (July 8-12) with the second and third matches at Old Trafford in Manchester from July 16-20 and then July 24-28.
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“It’s exciting that England and West Indies will be the teams to start world cricket back up again, laying down the platform for other countries to follow,” Archer wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.
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“Obviously as the only cricket on, all eyes will be on it, and I expect that there will be a lot more television viewers than would have been the case had things been normal.
“I expect people who don’t usually watch cricket will tune in — because it’s live sport, not pre-recorded. If they are like me they will have had their fill of re-runs,” he added.
The Barbados-born player also reacted to Kemar Roach’s comment and said that they were blown out of proportion.
“Jofra made his decision and he’s done a fantastic job for England so far but there will be no friendships during this series,” Roach had said last week.
The 25-year-old Archer further said, “Let’s not get this out of proportion. There will be rivalry there but when Kemar said there will be ‘no friendships’ it sounds a lot worse than it actually is.”
“Obviously, we all grew up in the Caribbean and it’s customary for us to say ‘we will be friends at the end of the game’. That’s exactly what he meant.
“It’s not as though he is going to walk past me or be rude, it’s just that when we are on the field we will play hard cricket,” the England pacer added.
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