Jofra Archer smiles again as he acknowledges his goals; Beat Australia on Sunday, weather permitting, to complete a comeback series win and then meet them again in next year’s Ashes.
Archer, 29, is using the five-match Metro Bank campaign as a building block in his rehabilitation program towards a Test return after three years of injury and, having played his part in drawing England level at 2-2 with the old enemy on Friday evening at Lord’s wants to ease the wet weather in Bristol on Sunday morning.
The England medical team is gradually increasing the Barbadian-born fast bowler’s workload heading into the tour down under in 13 months and planned to field him in the first, third and fifth games.
However, buoyed by ten overs in the victory in Durham, and knowing this weekend’s prediction, he requested to play at the venue of the dramatic 2019 World Cup final success in which he played such a big hand.
After the figures of two for 33, he beamed: ‘We had to win to keep the series alive and that in itself made it a bit special.
Jofra Archer pictured in action for England during Friday’s ODI win over Australia at Lord’s
‘Sunday is a kind of final. I don’t think anyone wants to miss Lord’s. The physios and medical team gave their opinion, but ultimately it’s a group decision and I gave them a little push for this. I’m just happy playing any cricket.
“I’m still at the park and we’re nearing the end of summer. So for me that’s a check mark. I wanted to play for a summer, and then I want to play for a year, and then I want to play for a few years. So everything is going according to plan.’
The precise planning of Rob Key, the England director, and chief medical officer Craig de Weymarn, is all about ensuring that one of their most important assets from a fitness perspective peaks in the winter of 2025-2026, after several false starts following stress fractures . of the elbow.
‘People need to understand the seriousness of his injury. He is one where it was built up slowly. His body is now resilient for 20-plus cricket. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you’re doing over-50s cricket it’s double – more than that,” Key told Mail Sport.
Archer bowled seven overs and took two wickets, dismissing Josh Inglis and Glenn Maxwell
“Again, you have to be careful. He has to bowl, but you have to be careful how he does it. So the next stage if his body is to become resilient is to bowl more in 50-over cricket, so then you look at Champions Trophy.
“Once he has done that, the next thing is he has to go to four-day cricket and Test match cricket. So that is the progression. Once he has that resilience in one format, you build him up from there. It would be a shame if we don’t see him play Test cricket (more).’
Archer has taken four wickets in two England wins, the latter by a huge margin of 186 runs after he, Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse outwitted Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood in seaming conditions.
However, a man who is suddenly a senior in the group – “the other day I was playing warm-up football on the young side and a few weeks later I’m in the old team,” he joked – believes performances have improved consistently in all four against the world champions.
“Even in the games we lost, I don’t think we were that far off. We lost key moments, but we were never quite there. We bounced back and hopefully we can do one more,” he said.
England defeated Australia by 186 runs to level the series at 2-2 ahead of Sunday’s decider
However, it is no coincidence that England’s turnaround has coincided with much better application of the bat. In the opening match at Nottingham they lost eight wickets for 102, leaving them under par when 350 had looked at the cards, and at Leeds they fell to 65 for five in the powerplay. Both periods handed crucial momentum to the Australians.
Harry Brook has been involved on every occasion, but his change of pace has been instrumental in the change for the better.
The England captain finished with a 58-ball 87 at Lord’s on Friday, coming alive after making just 20 from his first 22 deliveries. At Chester-le-Street, his first one-day hundred started a chase that began when his side fell to 11 for two, a mere trifle.
With wickets in hand, others were able to put their foot down late. Most notable is Liam Livingstone, whose unbeaten 62 off 27 left the Australians in need of something miraculous.
Brook’s will need something miraculous from the weather gods on Sunday, but the forecast for Archer is much better after a gloomy spell and for that English cricket fans will be grateful.