Jofra Archer steps up to show his true value lies beyond pundits’ stereotypes

‘Jofra Archer has worked his way back from serious injury, and came up as a self-made cricketer, no pathways, no academy.’ Photograph: Asanka Brendon Ratnayake/Reuters

This was a gripping day of Test cricket. The visuals were perfect. Adelaide Oval was a dreamy place, with its bleached greens, soft surfaces, the scroll of blue above the stands, the sense of some chino-shorted Eden, ultimate expression of the leisured triumphalism of the southern summer.

In the middle of this there were long periods where three games seemed to be happening all at once. England versus Australia. Jofra Archer versus Australia. And Jofra Archer versus the open pressure-valve of every England bowler at the other end.