JASON HOLDER: Jofra Archer has been racially abused, we will all rally around him

It was a shock to all of us when we heard Jofra Archer had breached bio-secure protocols before the second Test but our guys handled the situation well and didn’t get caught up with it. We didn’t feel let down by Jofra. It was out of our control.

Life in the bubble is great but also difficult and I’m sure he felt bad about what he did. And seeing the way the ECB handled it I’m sure he won’t do it again.

People are humans and make mistakes and it’s just important we all learn from Jofra’s mistake and appreciate the severity of the situation. We all know Jofra well from his time growing up in Barbados and let me tell you he’s a really good guy. He’s also young and I’m sure he didn’t mean to harm anyone.

Jofra Archer has the full support of the West Indies team after he suffered racial abuse online

Archer suffered racial abuse on social media after missing England’s second Test vs Windies

I sympathise with him. I read his Sportsmail column and you don’t want to see what has gone on with Jofra happening to anyone. For him to have been racially abused in New Zealand last winter and for it now to be resurfacing would traumatise any individual. 

More than ever, now is the time for us all to unite behind him and show as much support as we can. We need to eradicate racism and abuse and anything we as a West Indies team can do to help him we will do. We all need to put our heads together to see what can be done.

It’s hard. Social media is always in our faces every time we pick up our phone and I think the people who run Instagram and Twitter, in particular, need to get a firmer grip on what goes on. You just cannot pop up on someone’s social media and leave an abusive comment and get away with it.

Archer is a good guy and we’ll do anything we can to help him during this difficult period

Windies captain Jason Holder was speaking to Sportsmail exclusively ahead of the third Test

There should be a harsher penalty to make sure it is handled with the severity it deserves. Jofra has certainly copped some flak since he started playing for England and we sympathise with him. As professional athletes we all go through it and I would just encourage him to have his support system close by.

Whoever he feels it necessary to have around him, they are the people he needs to lean on. However much you try to ignore these things they can come back up so he needs to find a coping mechanism and it’s equally important for those around him to understand what he’s going through so they can then help him get past what he’s facing. World cricket wants people like Jofra Archer on the field and it’s not good for the game to see what he’s been going through.

We will all rally round him. Now is the time to come together and find solutions for these problems. I haven’t spoken to Jofra yet about this but I will do. It will certainly be good to see him back on the park and compete against him again.

Archer trained with England on Wednesday ahead of the third and final West Indies Test

Archer revealed all in his exclusive Sportsmail column – citing the abuse he got on social media

THAT COSTLY SUNDAY

We have discussed as a team where we went wrong in the second Test and it was undoubtedly the fourth evening when we lost six wickets after tea. That second new ball did damage to us and we didn’t bat into the final day which we felt we had to do.

That gave England a chance to push for a win on the last day and they bowled well to do it. We still felt we could have saved it but when we lost three wickets cheaply it became that much more difficult. We wanted to go for the win ourselves and seal the series there and then; we knew England had to push for a win and we were banking on a bold declaration. But we put down a couple of chances and basically had to shut up shop. We couldn’t do it but we move on.

NO REGRETS

This attack has done well for us in the last couple of series and it’s the best combination we have in the context of this group so I don’t have any regrets about going in with the same bowlers. I don’t think we can blame fatigue from the first Test even though a bit of sluggishness was to be expected because of workloads after a long lay-off.

I think the outfield played a role in the way the guys pulled up because there had been rain and the ground was very soft. Lots of the players were slipping and sliding on the first day. The same goes with the toss – you can look back with hindsight but I back all decisions made.

But if the pitch at Emirates Old Trafford looks like it will play the same way on Friday there will be consideration to tinkering with the team. We will see what the conditions present and pick the best side for those conditions. And we will continue to support players who have not as yet performed as we would have expected.

There is a lot to be considered ahead of our decider against England which begins on Friday

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

There were lot of positives for us in defeat. The way Jermaine Blackwood followed up the first Test; Kraigg Brathwaite continues to be a bright spark; Shamarh Brooks has come into his own and Roston Chase is slowly but surely becoming a frontline off-spinner, maybe not to the rest of the world but certainly to us. He was outstanding with the ball in the first innings and backed it up with a half century. Shannon Gabriel still looked threatening and Kemar Roach finally found success after bowling so well in the first two games. The team dynamic and spirit were very good too.

STOKES ON TOP

England are always going to be threatening in these conditions with the back-up bowling resources they have. That showed in this Test even without Jofra. Ben Stokes, of course, stood out. He was unarguably the player of the match. He was impactful with bat and ball and his energy is always great. I love competing against him because he builds you up for a dog-fight. 

I have never been caught up with the ICC individual rankings. My focus is solely on winning this series and people will form their own opinions so it doesn’t faze me that Stokesey went above me in the all-rounder’s rankings on Tuesday. I have my role to play to help the team and that’s all that matters.

It doesn’t faze me that Ben Stokes has moved above me in the ICC all-rounder rankings

NOW FOR THE DECIDER

It’s been a great restart for cricket so far. I don’t think you could ask for any more. It’s all to play for and whoever wants it more and has that extra effort left in the tank will have that last performance in them on the big stage. We came here with the Wisden Trophy and we want to take it back with us.

I was fortunate enough to go on a radio show in Barbados with three Caribbean prime ministers before the second Test and their support for us is heart-warming. We want to give people in the Caribbean something to shout about now. There’s a great saying that when the cricket is going well West Indian people are happy and it’s our responsibility and duty to keep them happy now.

We are not only playing for ourselves and our families tomorrow but the whole of the Caribbean and everyone here feels the importance of this. It’s another motivating factor for us and we do not want to let anyone down now.