Four overs is a pretty tiny sample size, but when Jofra Archer bowls them, English cricket is eager to interpret them. The fast bowler returned to play at Newlands on Tuesday after 541 days on the sidelines, producing three wickets in an excellent stint.
Jofra Archer with Stunning Come-Back
Test captain Ben Stokes was overjoyed to see the deadly fastback on the pitch and charging in. The new South African T20 league is a world apart from the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston in six months. But it’s a start, and the fact that Archer is now bowling again after not bowled in a senior competition since getting 0-20 from three overs in a T20 for his county, Sussex, in July 2021, is very positive for England. “England has been successful in the previous 12 months, but the addition of Jofra Archer makes for interesting times.
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‘Wow, he’s back,’ we thought after his first over “Darren Gough, a former England seamer who famously took an Ashes hat-trick at the SCG, remarked. Archer has had two elbow procedures and a stress fracture in his back since his previous contest. His recuperation was accelerated by a practice appearance for the England Lions in November, but this was his first competitive appearance, for Mumbai Indians Cape Town against Paarl Royals.
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Wihan Lubbe was caught at mid-off in the 27-year-old’s over, which resulted in a wicket maiden. Returning at the end, Archer bowled two more overs, removing David Miller and Frisco Adams with slower balls. Amazing, incredible. That reappearance is really pleasant to behold after such a lengthy absence “Rashid Khan, captain of MI Cape Town, said. It’s fantastic; he’s back in full swing. It was incredible to behold, particularly since I was on the field with him rather than against him.
Archer is scheduled to play one more game for Cape Town before joining the England One-Day International squad for a three-match series against South Africa later this month. England will carefully monitor his workload with the Ashes on the line this year. England would surely not risk Archer playing all five Tests in less than seven weeks, but if they can cycle him and the similarly quick Mark Wood, they might have serious speed alternatives in each Test.
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Olly Stone, another fast capable of bowling at speeds in excess of 145km/h and who has experienced a back ailment, offered more hope for England in the same encounter. Stone, who will visit New Zealand with Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, and Olly Robinson next month, clean-bowled Dane Vilas and Jos Buttler and took 2-31 in the eight-wicket triumph.
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