Jofra Archer's breach could have cost ECB millions, says Ashley Giles

English speedster Jofra Archer’s breach of bio-secure protocols could have led to a “disaster” and ended up costing the England and Wales Cricket Board tens of millions of pounds, ECB director of cricket Ashley Giles has said.

Archer was dropped by England from the second Test against the West Indies after he was found to have breached the protocols. The ECB announced the decision only hours before the start of the second Test at the Old Trafford in Manchester on Thursday.

While ECB didn’t clarify the nature of the violation but as per media reports, the Barbados-born 25-year-old had exited the bio-secure bubble to go to his flat in Brighton following the series opener in Southampton.

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This could have been a disaster: Giles

“This could have been a disaster. The ripple effect this could have had through the whole summer could have cost us tens of millions of pounds,” Giles said.

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“The potential knock-on effect I don’t think he could have understood. He’s a young man, young men make mistakes. He has to learn from them.”

Archer, who has since apologized for his mistake, has started a five-day isolation period and will have two COVID-19 tests. England coach Chris Silverwood is of the view that the player would receive plenty of support.

“He knows he has done that and we will support him the best we can,” Silverwood said.

“He’s got five days stuck in a hotel room, so we’ve got to make sure he’s alright from a well-being point of view, that we look after him.”

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In the absence of Archer, England opted to field the troika of Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Sam Curran with Ben Stokes being the fourth seamer in the team.

England were invited to bat first and the hosts enjoyed a superb day on the field on Day 1 as they ended up posting 207/3 with Dom Sibley and Stokes at the crease.