The release last month of the third season of The Test, Amazon’s fly-on-the-wall documentary about Australia’s cricket team, provoked a re-watch of the most compelling sequence of its first.
It is Lord’s in the summer of 2019, the Second Ashes Test, and Jofra Archer, on debut, bowling heat. Marnus Labuschagne recalls clocking the scoreboard as it flashed up 96mph (“Sheesh, that’s quick!”). Nathan Lyon tries desperately to dry his clamming hands (“Someone’s turned the taps on!”) as he prepares for the unenviable task of batting next.
And then, eventually, silence and shock engulfs the dressing room as, out in the middle, Steve Smith wears a bouncer on the head and hits the deck.
No side felt the force of Archer’s thrilling breakout summer more than Australia, who had already lost their captain for a golden duck to the seamer in a World Cup semi-final before facing the fire throughout the Ashes.
The expectation then was that the quick’s emergence would add a new element to the rivalry, a game-changer for England who, through the peak Mitchell Johnson years and then into Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins territory, had found no similar rapid reply.
For the last four years, though, it has changed nothing at all: Archer’s last outing against Australia in any format came in a behind-closed-doors ODI at the end of 2020’s Covid summer.
The wait will end in Barbados tomorrow, when Archer and the Aussies renew hostilities and where, for England, victory is required to spark their T20 World Cup defence into life and ensure a shock group-stage exit does not become a genuine chance.
For England, victory is required to spark their T20 World Cup defence into life and ensure a shock group-stage exit does not become a genuine chance
Tuesday’s washout against Scotland at Kensington Oval may have made for a frustrating start, but the occasion was still an emotional one for Archer, playing international cricket on the island where he grew up for the very first time.
“I had a little bit of water in my eye and it wasn’t the rain,” the 29-year-old said, having been treated to a raucous ovation by a local crowd that included children from his old school.
Archer has spent much of his rehab from an elbow stress fracture in Barbados over the last year, admitting yesterday that he has at times felt “like a burden” for hoovering up a central contract salary while being unable to play.
He also revealed he has believed himself physically fit enough to feature since November, but appears to be benefiting now from the ECB’s ultra-cautious approach.
While rain has been a menace to both England’s preparations and the start of their campaign, it has made managing Archer’s workload a so far straightforward task.
Games one and three of the warm-up series against Pakistan were lost, so it was obvious that he needed to play numbers two and four to get up to speed.
With Scotland’s innings reduced to just 10 overs, he was permitted to bowl only two and, as such, there are no doubts that he is ready to go again this weekend.
Inevitably, though, this fixture throws upon the question of what next; the next Ashes in Australia is now only 18 months away.
The state of England’s pace stock will become a hot topic in the next few weeks, with two rounds of the County Championship left before the Test summer starts and several contenders vying to fill the boots of James Anderson and Stuart Broad.
Archer, though, is not among them, his red-ball return pencilled in for India’s visit 12 month down the line.
“I’ve got a pdf file of every single game I’m supposed to play from now until next summer,” he explained. “They’ve planned out almost everything.
“Probably the only thing they haven’t planned is the showers I take! I’m just glad to be back and hopefully back for a while.”
