Jofra Archer honouring Sussex-based paramedic, Joe Wheatley during first Test

Jofra Archer will wear the name of Sussex-based paramedic, Joe Wheatley on his training shirt during the first Test match of the summer as England's players honour and celebrate heroes within the cricket family during the #RaiseTheBat series. 

Joe, who is a member of Barcombe Cricket club, offers fantastic support to those he treats and their families, often being a patient's first contact with medical staff during an emergency. 

When he’s not driving an ambulance, he’s manning the heavy roller as Barcombe’s groundsman, and has kept the pitches maintained throughout the postponement of recreational cricket.

Fellow Sussex star, Ollie Robinson will wear the name of Dr Nasir Ali, who is Emergency Medicine Consultant at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in London, on his shirt as the three-Test series, taking place behind closed doors, begins today.

England's entire squad and coaching staff will wear the names of key workers nominated by their local cricket clubs, and include teachers, doctors, nurses, carers and other vital professions on their training shirts.

Each key worker will now receive the shirt bearing their name, signed by the player who wore it, to thank them for the work they’ve been doing. Their names and photos will also be highlighted in broadcast partners’ Sky and BBC’s coverage and displayed across the ground on the big screens and LED banners.

Ben Stokes, who is captaining England in the first Test while Joe Root is away for the birth of his second child, will take to the pitch wearing the name of Durham-local Vikas Kumar, a specialist in anaesthetics and critical care at Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Through the pandemic Dr Kumar, a keen cricketer who plays at Cowgate Cricket Club in Newcastle and the Gilli Boys Amateur Club in Darlington, has been working on the frontline while also being there for his family at home.

Ben Stokes said: “We’re only able to play this Test match because of the amazing job that key workers up and down the country have done to help us through this pandemic.

Wearing their names is a real honour for us, and is a small sign of our appreciation for the incredible work they have done. They have truly gone in to bat for us all, and it makes me proud of how the whole cricket family has responded to help us get through these unprecedented times.”

Dr Vikas Kumar, whose name featured on Ben Stokes’s shirt, said: “The past four months have been very difficult, but it was a wonderful surprise to find out that Ben Stokes of all people is wearing my name on his training shirt.

"So many of my colleagues at work and at the cricket club have been working so hard and made big sacrifices, so this is for them as well.”