We really need to be there to support Jofra right now, asserts Ben Stokes

Jofra Archer was ruled out of the second Test between England and West Indies in Old Trafford for breaching bio-secure protocols put in place. On his drive from Hampshire to Manchester, Archer decided to stop at his flat in Hove and after it came to the light of ECB Events committee, they were quick to act, reducing him to the bench and putting him in five-day isolation where he will have to deliver two Covid-19 negatives to be considered for the third Test.

This incident had the potential to sabotage the entire tour and people have understandably been unhappy with the Barbados-born English pacer. However, Ben Stokes, who stood in for Joe Root in the first Test, has thrown his support for the generational pacer, saying it is not the time to leave him alone and rather people need to stand by his side in a difficult time.

"For us as players, and as the England cricket group, this is a time where our way of operation really needs to come through. We really need to there to support Jofra right now, because obviously he's a big talking point, and he is by himself because of everything else going on at the moment,” Stokes said in the post-match press conference, reported ESPN Cricinfo.

"But it's about making sure that he doesn't feel like he's by himself. The worst thing that we can do right now, as a team, is to just leave him and say 'see you in five, six days' time. Times like these for people are very, very tough. You can feel like you are all by yourself, but I don't think anybody is going to allow that to happen. Jofra is a massive part of this group, as everybody is. If it was anybody else like Jofra, it would be exactly the same way of handling a team."

Meanwhile, ECB director of Cricket Ashley Giles talked about a bigger action against Jofra Archer for the act had the potential to knock the entire series off and cost English cricket tens of millions of pounds.