England fast bowler Jofra Archer was made fun of for showing up for the second Ashes Test against Australia with a pillow tucked under his arm—a move that was called “a shocking look” by some.
On Saturday, when Australia resumed at 378-6 in response to England’s first innings 334, Archer was seen arriving at the Gabba in Brisbane with the pillow for day three.
He probably believed that Australia’s final four wickets would be taken swiftly, allowing him to take a nap. Rather, the hosts scored an additional 133 runs before being bowled out for 511, and Archer was forced to spend hours in the field instead of getting any sleep.
“Sorry, but that’s a shocking look,” Australia great Matthew Hayden said on commentary for Australia’s Channel Seven.
“If I was a batsman, I tell you what I would be doing, I would be digging in … Forever. You would be looking over that and saying, ‘you will never sleep on that, not any part of this day are you going to see that, not even in the night’.”
As he arrived, Ricky Ponting noticed Archer and his cushion and questioned England opener Ben Duckett about the situation.
“I couldn’t believe it, I was walking straight towards him,” Ponting told the same network.
“He gives me a bit of a glance and Ben Duckett was 10 metres behind him. I said, ‘What is going on here?’ He said, ‘Don’t even ask me, I don’t want to talk about it’.”.
The Guardian newspaper called the image “an awkward symbol of England’s Ashes nightmare”.
“Bowler’s creature comforts emblematic of a touring side seen as paying the price for taking a laid-back approach,” it added.
After losing the first Test in Perth by 8 wickets in just two days, England was on the verge of losing again on Sunday in Brisbane.
