3 min readJun 3, 2026 04:57 PM IST
With England pacer Jofra Archer missing the first England vs New Zealand Test, set to start from Thursday, after his stint with Indian premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals, former Former New Zealand cricketer and broadcaster Simon Doull lashed into the player, saying he has no interest in playing Test cricket.
“It’s ludicrous, absolutely ludicrous. How are you paying this guy up to a million pound a year and he’s not available for your first Test match? It’s absolutely ludicrous,” Doull said on Sky Sports.
The 56-year-old also named Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Matt Henry as players who should serve as examples for Archer on how to balance IPL and national duties.
“The last time New Zealand came here, we go back to that last Bazball series. Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Matt Henry were all practicing in between games in the IPL with the red ball and getting through over and overs and overs so they were ready to go when they arrived. I think they arrived 5 days before the first Test after the IPL on that previous tour. Ok, it didn’t work out, NZ lost the series 3-0 but there is no reason that Jofra Archer couldn’t have been bowling six or seven overs each in between day. The fact that he is not doing that tells me he has no interest in playing Test cricket,” Doull said.
Simon Doull says that Jofra Archer being unavailable for England’s first New Zealand Test, following his involvement in the IPL, is “completely wrong” 👀 pic.twitter.com/TjWdKzhR7c
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 3, 2026
“And why are the ECB not then sending someone out there or having discussions with Kumar Sangakkara, with the team saying we need him to be doing this. We need him to be ready for Test match cricket. We have allowed him to come to you for this 8-week period, in between days, he needs to be bowling 5 overs, 6 overs, 7 overs with the red ball so he’s ready to go. And there’s enough time. If you are doing that in between games, there is enough time to come back here for a week and get reedy for a Test match. There is no issue with that so I think it’s completely wrong,” he added.
Archer who was in the Rajasthan team which lost the Qualifier 2 to Gujarat Titans on May 29 by 7 wickets, played 16 matches and took 25 scalps in this season of the IPL.
