Blackcaps v England: England fan responsible for racial abuse of Jofra Archer, say spectators

Two Bay Oval spectators claim the racial abuse shouted at England's Jofra Archer came from an English supporter, not a New Zealand fan.

On Monday, after his side's first-test defeat, Archer tweeted his disappointment over taunts from the crowd, which he described as "disturbing". 

But two Tauranga brothers have told NZME that the source of the taunts was an England fan, who had targeted Archer with one particular sentence, while he was at the crease. 

"He was an English supporter," said one of the brothers. "He definitely wasn't a New Zealand supporter - he never once mentioned a New Zealand player."

They said they hadn't understood the racial implications of the particular sentence the fan - who was wearing a black top - was using, but that'd he'd been "cheering and jeering" the England team throughout the day.

They were surprised that other players, officials or security hadn't heard the abuse, which were clearly audible in the 95th over of Sky Sport's broadcast.

"This guy chose quite quiet, specific times, when the bowler was just walking up to his run-up, so it was quiet and he'd yell out. You can hear it - I've just watched it on TV this morning, the highlights, you can hear him in the background, yahooing and barracking his players.

"It's fairly obvious to me, just listening to it, that it's him. This guy wasn't trying to hide it, he wasn't just sitting down on the picket fence, just quietly whispering in peoples' ears - he was quite vocal."

The brothers stressed to NZME that the fan wasn't part of the 'Barmy Army' contingent.

On Wednesday, Archer spoke out about the incident in an article for the UK's Daily Mail. While he insisted he was "over it", he expressed disappointment that other crowd members were unable to help idenitfy the culprit.

NZ Cricket boss David White insists an investigation to find the person responsible is still in progress.

The second test begins at Hamilton's Seddon Park on Friday.

Join us at 10am Friday for live updates of the Blackcaps v England second test