Jibes wasted on Archer

JUSTIN Langer’s attempts to unsettle Ashes newbie Jofra Archer will have as much impact as shouting at the wind, according to England captain Joe Root.

England’s X-factor will make his Test and Ashes debut at Lord’s with the weight of a nation on his shoulders after the loss at Edgbaston and without injured pace spearhead Jimmy Anderson.

Langer did his best to add to that burden when he suggested he would be “curious” to see if Archer had the stamina to see out a five-day game, having made his name as a white ball bowler.

“That’s the question in Test cricket; do you have the mental toughness, do you have the physical endurance to play well in Test cricket,” he said.

It slightly ruffled the 24year-old, but the Barbadosborn quick, who bowled 50 overs in his county championship debut for Sussex in 2016, declared Langer had “another think coming” because he could not be more Test ready.

Root was not flustered and said his new Test teammate was so confident and relaxed — he was asleep in the dressing room moments before his World Cup debut at The Oval — that he would cause “a lot of problems” for Australia.

“He’s very confident, which is great, someone coming in with that attitude is just what you want,” he said.

“He offers something different. Obviously that extra bit of pace as well. He gets the ball moving around both ways, and you factor that in with the pace he bowls, and he’ll cause a lot of problems.

“And he’s very relaxed. I remember his first World Cup game, we’d just done the anthems . . . and I reckon before the first ball was bowled he was asleep in the dressing room, making sure he’s ready to go when he has to bowl.”

Australian captain Tim Paine played with Archer at the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash and said only a “bad night on Fortnite on the PlayStation” upset him.

But Paine echoed Langer’s thoughts and said the Australians had to make him bowl “a lot of overs”.

“Test match cricket is a different beast, it’s up to us to put him under pressure, whether that’s physically and making him bowl a lot of overs and make him back up day after day,” he said.

Root defended the elevation of Archer on the back of only white-ball cricket and one county second XI game, in which he took six wickets.

He said Archer had all the skills to excel, as his 131 first class wickets showed.

“He’s had a slightly different journey and has gained a lot of experience, whether it be under pressure in T20 cricket, or the World Cup now as well,” Root said.

“He’s very skilful, he’s got a very good record in red ball cricket. There will be a lot of questions marks about his workloads coming in the game.

“But if we manage that, he’s proven over the last couple of years he can manage that well. He’s a very exciting prospect.”