Jofra Archer is ramping up his return to international cricket and he made sure Zak Crawley knew about it. The paceman has not featured for England since March 2021 and has been without competitive cricket since July 2021 having battled an elbow injury and then suffering a stress fracture of his lower back, which ruled him out of the 2022 summer.
It has been a nightmare run of injuries for the 2019 world champion, but he now looks to be on the verge of stepping back into the international fold. Featuring for the Lions in a warm-up match at the Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi today, Archer produced an initial five-over spell with figures of 5-1-23-0.
While not at his best or his quickest, which is understandable given the length of time he has spent on the sidelines, he still gave the batters plenty to worry about. Crawley, one of the opening batsmen, was struck on the head by a bouncer at the end of the first over of the match, which led to a pause in play for a concussion test.
He was cleared to play on and later in the match, Crawley continued to struggle against Archer’s pace, as he top edged him for six and also played a couple of false shots before nearly playing on to his stumps. Despite the trouble caused by Archer early on, he looked in good nick as he reached 91 not out by the lunch break.
He opened alongside Ben Duckett, who looks set to start at the top of the England order for the first Test against Pakistan next Thursday. He also showed promising signs at the crease before being caught at midwicket off the bowling of Tom Abell.
That brought Ollie Pope to the crease and the England stand-in skipper went into lunch unbeaten along with Crawley as England posted 137-1. He took over in the absence of captain Ben Stokes, who is being rested after the T20 World Cup victory, but he will return to lead England for the three match test series against the side they defeated in Melbourne final earlier this month.
Speaking of Stokes, Australian legend Ian Chappell believes he can learn a lot from England's successful T20 World Cup campaign which can help "advance his Test leadership". Stokes has enjoyed a dream start to life as England's new Test captain, having guided them to six wins in seven after taking over a side that had won just one of their last 17 games.
Chappell believes England "should convince Stokes that at times he needs to bat with a little more caution" in Test cricket after he spent the summer trying to attack from ball one with mixed results. “He really rose to the occasion in the final at the MCG, when he steadily piloted England towards the trophy with an innings of steely resolve," Chappell wrote in his latest column for ESPNcricinfo.
"This was not the scintillating Stokes of his match-winning knock at the 2019 Headingley Test, or even the master batter who helped England clinch their first 50-over World Cup the same year. This was the sensible cricketer who sized up the occasion and did what was required to ensure England claimed another trophy. Having achieved wonders in his debut season as Test captain despite playing some reckless innings, this knock should convince Stokes that at times he needs to bat with a little more caution in the longer format."
