Archer condemns all forms of racial abuse

England fast bowler Jofra Archer has maintained that there is no place for racism in any walk of life, let alone cricket.

His comments have come after the Barbadian-born speedster claimed racial slurs were hurled at him by a patron in the first Test against New Zealand in Mount Maunganui.

The incident occurred towards the end of England’s second innings on the fifth day of the first Test. Faced with impending defeat, Archer scored 30 from 50 balls batting at number nine to give England a glimmer of hope before holing out to deep square leg, whereupon he was accosted by a member of the crowd as he returned to the pavilion.

In a Twitter post shortly after the close of play, Archer described the incident as “a bit disturbing”, adding in a separate post that was subsequently deleted that the individual concerned had been “yelling bbc and bc from the scoreboard area”.

Writing in his column in the Daily Mail, Archer described the incident as shameful.

“The first thing I want to say about what happened towards the end of the Test at Mount Maunganui is that I’m over it. 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,” Archer wrote.

“But I found the incident a real shame. 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.

“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 contended.

However, Archer himself now wants to move on, even if he remains disappointed that the spectators in the vicinity didn’t do more to address the issue at the time.

“I don’t want to go into the details of what was said but I know what I heard,” he wrote. “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. Now my only goal is to make sure we finish this series on a high because we were all disappointed with the result in the first Test.”