Archer's Covid-19 breach could have cost English cricket millions

Jofra Archer at Old Trafford before his Covid-19 breach had been disclosed / Picture: Getty

Jofra Archer could have cost English cricket tens of millions of pounds with his breach of Covid-19 protocols in place for the England-West Indies Test series.

So says England director of cricket Ashley Giles after the Sussex paceman was banned from the second Test at Old Trafford and told to self-isolate after he admittedhe went home to Brighton in between the players leaving the last Test 'bubble' at the Ageas Bowl in Hampshire and heading to Manchester.

Giles said Archer's breach of the bio-secure protocols could have been a "disaster".

Giles said after the close of play on day one at Old Trafford: "The ripple effect it could have had could have cost us tens of millions of pounds. The potential knock-on effect of this, I don't think he could have fully understood.

"We made it very clear what the protocols mean, but maybe he didn't quite understand what the consequences could be."

Giles said Archer was not home for a "particularly long period of time" and he visited someone who has since returned a negative coronavirus test.

On Wednesday evening, Archer told one of the members of the England management team that he went home, and he was subsequently removed from the 13-man squad.

He is now serving a five-day period of isolation and must return two negative coronavirus tests before he can rejoin the England squad.

Giles added: "There will be a disciplinary process to go through. That's ongoing. That's an employment matter and we'll settle that in good time.

"Jofra has demonstrated how sorry he is, but it's clearly very disappointing for the whole group. He's a young man and young men make mistakes, and he's just got to learn from them."

England coach Chris Silverwood was asked by BBC Sport about Archer's availability for the third and final Test, also at Old Trafford, and he said: "There's ongoing conversations and I'll be speaking to Ashley.

"We're speaking to Jofra a lot. The guys will rally round, make sure he's doing alright, phone him, deliver his meals, so we've got all sorts to be doing. I've got a feeling he's probably learnt a lot in the past 24 hours. It is something that will be spelt out to him as well."