Archer has Aussies in his sights after bruising battle
RORY Burns believes England Test debutant Jofra Archer will be seeking revenge with the ball after being on the receiving end of some aggressive bowling from the Australia attack.
Archer was targeted with a series of short deliveries from pace bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins as he helped the hosts reach 258 all out in the first innings of the second Ashes Test.
The Barbados-born 24-year-old, who made 12 from 20 balls, then repeatedly topped 90 miles per hour during a wicketless six-over cameo with the ball, before the tourists finished on 30 for one at stumps.
Opener Burns, who top scored for the hosts at Lord’s with 53, has backed team-mate Archer to come out fighting today.
“I would have thought so. He copped a fair few as well so he’s probably looking forward to getting his own back,” said Burns.
“It’s quite an obvious tactic. The boys are preparing for it and luckily we can dish out some of our own in this game as well.
“We’ve got some boys in our armoury who do the same thing so it should be pretty interesting.”
After being emphatically beaten in the opening Test at Edgbaston, England’s quest to level the series suffered a major setback with Jason Roy out for a threeball duck and captain Joe Root following shortly afterwards.
Half-centuries from Burns and Jonny Bairstow (52) helped steady the ship, with Chris Woakes chipping in with 32.
Burns was not surprised by the short deliveries as he was warned to expect them by Nathan Lyon.
“Not really. I’ve obviously batted a few balls so far in this Test series and they are looking for different ways to get me out,” he said.
“Nathan Lyon ran past me this morning and mentioned it within about three balls so I was well versed and prepared for what I was getting. It’s just a good battle.”
Burns also feels the contest is perfectly balanced going into the third day.
“I think it’s tight,” he continued. “It’s a competitive total, we’d obviously have liked more runs if we could have eked them out but I think the seamers kept everyone interested all day. It’s poised quite nicely.
“I think it’s game on and we’re right in amongst it.”
Spinner Lyon joined Hazlewood and Cummins in taking three wickets, going joint third with Dennis Lillee’s 355 on his country’s all-time list.
Only Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath sit above him in the Australian pantheon now, a fact even he finds hard to believe.
“I haven’t had the time to sit back and think about it. I really struggle to see myself up with the likes of Warne, McGrath and Lillee,” he said.
“It doesn’t sit well with me. In my eyes those guys are true legends of the game and I’m just some bloke trying to bowl offbreaks and make people proud of the Australian cricket team.”
Lyon rated his side’s collective efforts as imperfect, with three chances going down.
“I don’t think we had the best day, being brutally honest,” he said. “By our standards I don’t think we were good enough for long periods of time. We won the toss and created more than 10 chances because we haven’t played catch. We can get better and that’s exciting, but we were still able to bowl England out for 258 on a day-one wicket.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan refelected: “I don’t think they are out of this Test at all. Australia look like they are very driven and you would expect them to make it very difficult.”
The day’s play was dedicated to the Ruth Strauss Foundation, with the stands a sea of red and both teams honouring former England captain Andrew Strauss’ late wife by donning commemorative caps and shirts. A total of £382,462 was raised.
Strauss’ sons rang the five-minute bell and collected the mementos from the players but the sense of bonhomie and collaboration was quickly replaced by a typically hard-fought day of Ashes cricket.
Archer offered a tantalising glimpse of his Ashes potential.
He began celebrating when his second ball hooped in at a well-beaten Cameron Bancroft only to somehow evade the stumps.
The fourth delivery of his second over did do enough, with UltraEdge technology suggesting the ball skimmed David Warner’s outside edge on its way through to Jonny Bairstow. Improbably, neither Archer nor any of his team-mates picked up on it. THE inaugural Euro T20 Slam was cancelled because of a lack of working capital, it was confirmed last night.
Just 16 days before the first match was due to take place and only five hours after New Zealand’s Ross Taylor was named as a replacement player, the organisers announced on Wednesday night that “the staging of the event will not be possible in 2019”.
No explanation was given but it has since emerged that because the tournament was scheduled so soon after Sunday’s final of the Global T20 Canada — Bombay Sports Ltd and Woods Entertainment are in charge of both tournaments — the capital would not be available for another two to three months so the Euro T20 board “reluctantly” agreed to postpone the event.
More than 100 players, including England’s Dublin-born World Cup captain Eoin Morgan, had been contracted to take part in the three-week Slam, to be held in Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Dublin, split up into six franchises with 18 Ireland players involved with the Belfast Titans and Dublin Chiefs.
The organisers have signed a 10-year agreement and the 2020 tournament is due to be staged in a July/August window, as Ireland are playing England in three oneday internationals in September. • A HORROR first 14 overs condemned Ireland Under-17s to defeat in the second of their 50-over internationals against Scotland in Oak Hill yesterday.
They recovered from 28-6 to total 103 but the Scots eased home in the 30th over.
TOMORROW’S NCU FIXTURES: Robinson Services League Section One: Armagh v Woodvale, Bangor v Downpatrick, Derriaghy v Donaghcloney Mill, Holywood v Ballymena, Templepatrick v Cregagh. Sunday: Downpatrick v Cregagh, Woodvale v Armagh.
Section Two: BISC v Cliftonville Academy, Cooke Collegians v Belfast Superkings, Lurgan v Laurelvale, Saintfield v Monaghan. Sunday: Cooke Collegians v Saintfield, BISC v Monaghan.
Oak Hill scores: Ireland U17s 103 (32.2 overs, S Lynch 34, M Thompson 21; C Peet 4-13, D Salmond 3-19) Scotland U17s 104-5 (29.1 overs, T Makintosh 41; M Thompson 2-41). Scotland U17s won by five wickets.