Education
He was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School.
He was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School.
An opening batsman, he played domestic first-class cricket for Queensland for 10 years, from 1946-1947 to 1956-1957. He played in five Tests for the Australian cricket team in 1950 and 1951. Archer toured to South Africa in 1949-1950, but was not selected for the Test team ( became the first cricketer to be 12th man in all 5 tests of a series).
He made his Test debut in the second test (after a 6th consecutive 12th man pick) of the 1950-1951 Ashes series series against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Despite moderate scores in that match, and the third test at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the fourth test at the Adelaide Oval, he was then dropped from the team He returned for the first two tests against West Indies in 1951-1952, but failed to make an impression and did not play Test cricket again.
Archer was an outstanding fielder, and was offered a contract to play professional baseball in the United States. He played in the Lancashire League in 1954, for Accrington. He became a media executive after his retirement from cricket.