After making a shocking revelation about how he was racially abused during the first Test of the two-match series between New Zealand and England at the Mount Maunganui, Jofra Archer has spoken for the first time.
A bit disturbing hearing racial insults today whilst battling to help save my team , the crowd was been amazing this week except for that one guy , @TheBarmyArmy was good as usual also
— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) November 25, 2019
The Barbados-born English pacer said that he would be fine if someone criticised his bowling but believed there was “no time or place for racism in any walk of life”.
“When you come to another country, you half expect fans to have a go at your cricket. If someone wants to shout at me and tell me I’m bowling badly, that’s fine. I may not agree but it’s fine. It’s part of the experience of being a touring cricketer,” wrote Archer for Daily Mail.
“To hear racism, though — that’s another matter. There is no time or place for it in any walk of life, let alone cricket. It’s just not called for,” he added.
He has also informed that he has moved on from the incident and said, “I’ve left what happened at the ground and I’ve moved on. I should also say it was just one person who was shouting stuff.”
However, the young speedster refused to open up about the exact words that he was targeted with. But he has confirmed that he was there were derogatory chants that came from the stands and he did not make up anything.
Archer wrote, “I don’t want to go into the details of what was said but I know what I heard. I thought members of the crowd around the guy might have pulled him up because I could hear him from the pitch as I was walking off.”
“I guess they didn’t. But I know I wasn’t hearing stuff. I told the security guard what had happened and that was it,” the 24-year-old.
The New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the England Cricket Board (ECB) are investigating the incident. NZC also issued an apology letter for Archer, while the Blackcaps skipper Kane Williamson also expressed his apologies to the pacer.