Murray loses out in return to singles
PAUL NEWMAN Archer ready to silence Aussie coach Langer and get England right back in business at Lord’s
ANdy MuRRAy resumed his singles career last night, although the Scot with a metal hip could not make it a winning return against Richard Gasquet at the Cincinnati Masters. Seven months since his last singles match and six months since undergoing an operation that risked forcing him into retirement, the 32-year-old lost 6-4, 6-4 to the Frenchman. despite defeat, Murray can take plenty of positives from this comeback in which he became the first player to return to the singles game following hip-resurfacing surgery. Murray fought hard in the heat. He struggled on serve but his movement improved after a stiff start — and the two-time Wimbledon champion seemed determined to enjoy himself. Holding his phone in front of him, he filmed his entrance on to Centre Court, before Gasquet tested him by electing to have him serve first. Then the nerves kicked in for Murray. Serving for the first
Jofra archer smiled but there was no doubting the menace behind the message of a Test debutant happy to shoulder the burden of ashes expectations.
‘I’m more ready than I’ve ever been,’ said the man who bowled England to World Cup glory. ‘I’ve bowled 50 overs in one game for Sussex already and I’m usually the one bowling the most overs. Justin Langer has another thing coming.’
It was a combative response, albeit amiably delivered, to the australian coach’s pledge that his batsmen would wear archer down in a second Test starting tomorrow at Lord’s that England cannot afford to lose. for good measure, cricket’s new superstar repeated the words when he spoke to the BBC, just in case anyone missed what he said.
Clearly, little fazes a 24-year-old who has already made an indelible mark on cricket history with that seismic super over and is back at Lord’s tasked with riding to England’s ashes rescue after their Edgbaston fortress came crashing down.
Not even the words of an experienced australia coach, who, yesterday, made what appeared the valid point that archer (below) has had very little red-ball cricket in the last year and might find it hard to maintain his pace and hostility the longer he is forced to bowl.
‘I’m curious and interested to see how he goes,’ said Langer. ‘He’s obviously got a great temperament and he’s an incredible athlete but he hasn’t played much red-ball cricket. Test cricket is very different from white-ball cricket. It will be the same as everyone. We will try to get him into his second, third and fourth spells.’
It was Jason Gillespie who told ahead of the World Cup that the first-class game was archer’s strength and Jofra echoed his coach at Sussex.
‘I have played more red-ball cricket than white-ball,’ insisted archer, who took eight wickets for Sussex in his one first-class game at Lord’s. ‘It’s my preferred format. You get more chances to redeem yourself. In the one-day game, if you don’t have a good ten overs, that’s it. You’ve got to wait for the next game.’ archer’s white-ball expertise has been widely exposed to the cricketing world. Less so the 28 first-class appearances that brought him 131 red-ball wickets. ‘It was actually the first format I played regularly for Sussex,’ said archer, warming to his theme. ‘It was a bit hard to get into the white-ball team when I first came. red-ball isn’t really shown on TV, so people won’t know about me. and if you just look at the scorecard, it doesn’t always tell the full story of how the game panned out.’ The second Test will certainly be seen by a wider audience. archer insists he was fully over the side problem that supposedly hindered him in the World Cup ahead of Edgbaston but England did not want to risk both him and Jimmy anderson so soon after injury.
England’s caution rebounded spectacularly when anderson broke down after four overs.
‘What I would say is don’t expect miracles,’ said archer, smiling again, having emphasised his fitness with a superlative all-round display for Sussex’s Second XI against Gloucestershire last week. ‘If I make my debut here, I’ll come out and do what I can. I can’t work miracles. I can only give my best.’
It would certainly be something of a cricketing miracle if archer is able to dismiss double first-Test centurion Steve Smith cheaply.
‘He played really well at Edgbaston,’ said archer, who got on ‘quite well’ with Smith when they were IPL team-mates at rajasthan royals.
‘Hopefully, I get one to do a bit more down the slope and get him out for 90 runs less than at Edgbaston. He’s a very mentally tough cricketer.’
England, meanwhile, are considering springing a second Test surprise and throwing Sam Curran into the ashes fray at the expense of Joe Denly.
The bold plan would mean Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow being promoted in the order to accommodate the left-arm swing bowler and lower middle order batsman, who made such an impact against India last summer.
The scale of England’s first Test defeat at Edgbaston and the failure of Denly are believed to have forced Joe root and Trevor Bayliss into a rethink.