Tauranga police to investigate Jofra Archer racial abuse incident

Jofra Archer was in the news during the first Test match between New Zealand and England at the scenic Bay Oval in Mount Maunganui. It was the first-ever Test held at the venue and New Zealand managed to win it by an innings margin in the end. However, the match became notorious after it emerged that England fast bowler was abused racially by a member of the crowd.

Jofra Archer tweeted hours after the completion of the first Test match that he had been insulted using racial slurs as he tried to save his team from defeat. He pointed out that one person from the crowd was responsible for the misdeeds and even had the gall to contact him on Instagram later. The New Zealand Cricket Board and captain of the team Kane Williamson apologized to Archer for the unfortunate incident.

NZC asks the police to get involved and investigate the incident

The Kiwi cricket board has escalated the issue further after the end of the two-match series, which was won by the New Zealand side 1-0 after the second match ended in a draw. The board has asked the Tauranga police to investigate the racial abuse incident.

“Information gathered from an inquiry which included studying CCTV footage, listening to the audio, interviewing bystanders and obtaining material on social media has been incorporated in the complaint,” said NZC in an official statement and quoted by timesnownews.com.

The board has confirmed that if the police are able to identify the miscreant positively and conclusively, the person will be barred from all the venues of international cricket for a long period of time. “What happened to Jofra was reprehensible and has led to a general upscaling of security around the area of racial abuse at all our international venues. Should the person responsible ever re-offend, we believe we have enough information to link him to the Bay Oval incident,” NZC chief executive David White added.

New Zealand will now travel to Australia for a 3-match Test series which begins with a day-night game at Perth from December 12. The second Test begins on Boxing Day at the MCG and the final fixture will be played at the SCG from January 3, 2020. On the other hand, England will travel to South Africa for four Tests, 3 ODIs and 3 T20I matches starting December 26.