Veteran England pacer Stuart Broad has said that debutant Jofra Archer has the pace and bounce to blow away teams in Test cricket. The third day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s turned out to be yet another damp squib as no play was possible after the first session because of rain. However, there was plenty for England to cheer as they left Australia reeling at 80/4 when the day was called off. The visitors still trail by 178 runs.
Archer was one of the wicket-takers as he trapped Cameron Bancroft in front of the wickets with a delivery that jagged back sharply. The 24-year-old bowled with great pace and lengths to other Australia batsmen also and kept them in check.
“He’s already been a successful international cricketer, having been involved in the World Cup win, but he’s got some great attributes,” Broad said after the end of the day’s play while speaking at the press conference.
“These conditions at Lord’s have been a bit favourable to the bowler on day one and day two, but that’s not taking away anything he brings. You feel even on day four and day five pitches, with his height and bounce, he’s going to bring the stumps into play.
“I don’t think there are any doubts within the group or within the media that he has the attributes to be a Test cricketer. There’s going to be times when he’s going to blow teams away. What impressed me was his nagging line, the fact that he can bring all dismissals in. He’s aggressive with his bouncer,” he added.
Archer grabbed the attention of the larger global cricketing audience with his exploits in the Indian Premier League before storming into the international cricket scene with his stellar performance in England’s successful 2019 World Cup campaign. The Barbados-born fast bowler has 131 wickets in 28 First Class matches and scored over 1,000 runs in the longer formats.
However, Broad doesn’t want the team to place too many expectations on Archer.
“This is his first Test match. It’s a big learning experience. You sometimes forget he’s, what, 24?” Broad said.
“In our minds, because he’s been involved in World Cups and been talked about so much in the last six months that we think he’s a really experienced, older, knows-it-all cricketer. He’s still learning his trade a little bit, although he’s doing it with great success,” he added.
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