Archer is back in the England squad for Friday's series decider against the West Indies, having sat out last week's victory in Manchester following a breach of the team's bio-secure bubble.

He paid the price for his unauthorised trip to Hove with five days in isolation, a written warning and a fine but hit back at his critics in an emotional newspaper column which also revealed his recent brushes with racist abuse.

The 25-year-old had suggested the experience left him short of motivation when he first returned to the nets, but Root has been pleased with what he has seen in the past 48 hours.

England have named all six of their frontline pacemen in a 14-man squad, and may yet play four of them if Ben Stokes is not considered fit enough to play a full role with the ball, and Archer appears to have made a strong case for inclusion.

"Jofra will be ready for it. He's had two good days of training and he's got a smile on his face," said Root.

"He had his smile back because he was playing again, back out there with ball in hand doing what he loves the most, which is playing cricket.

"He's bowled the speed of light over the last couple of days in spicy nets so it wasn't much fun for our batters. I've had some good conversations with Jofra over the past few days. It is really important he's mentally in a good enough place to play the game."

Root and Chris Silverwood will need to make a tough decision over the precise make-up of their bowling group on Friday morning, having used all six quicks in the first two matches.

Stokes has been the only constant member of the attack but he pulled up mid-over on the final day of the second Test with what has been revealed as a quad injury. He would play as a specialist batsman regardless - 343 runs at 114.33 settle that debate - but his niggle may prove bad news for spinner Dom Bess.

One attractive option to cover for Stokes would be play a seam quartet, pairing the vastly experienced James Anderson and Stuart Broad with the speed of Archer and Mark Wood.

Australian Associated Press