‘HAPPIEST TIME OF MY CAREER BUT I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER’

JOFRA ARCHER was relishing the ‘happiest’ time of his career after skittling Australia for 179 in the third Ashes Test — but insisted he could bowl even better. England’s World Cup winner took six for 45, their best figures against the Australians at Headingley since Bob Willis’s eight for 43 in the miracle of 1981, to continue his dream start to international cricket. ‘It’s been really good so far, from the moment I’ve put the badge on,’ he said. ‘It’s been the happiest days of cricket so far and, hopefully, there are plenty more ahead. I’ll more than take six for 45, but I can be tidier in the future.’ Archer, who turned up to the ground 20 minutes later than his team-mates after getting lost in Headingley’s one-way system, bowled noticeably slower than he did at Lord’s, where he took five wickets in the match and hit Steve Smith on the helmet, forcing him out of this Test. But he said the drop in pace was deliberate: ‘It wasn’t a short-ball wicket. It was a bit soft on the top, so you don’t always need to run in and bowl at 90 miles an hour to get wickets.’ Australian opener David Warner, who made 61 after reaching double figures for the first time in the series, was full of praise for Archer’s performance, likening him to former South African Test great Dale Steyn. ‘That was incredible Test bowling,’ he said. ‘As a left-hander, Stuart Broad is going to challenge your off stump a lot, the same as Jofra. It’s a bit like how Dale Steyn with the new ball tried to use the conditions and then ramp it up when he needed to. That was world-class bowling.’ After celebrating his first Test fifty since his year-long ban for his part in the sandpaper ball-tampering scandal, Warner received an earful from fans in Headingley’s Western Terrace. And the jeering continued as he addressed the media after play when a group of England supporters spotted him through the window of the press-conference room. ‘They pay to come in and watch cricket and are allowed to carry on if they want,’ said the Australian. ‘If they carry on too much they get evicted. ‘But it’s hard enough trying to hit a swinging and seaming ball than worry about what the crowd are doing.’ Meanwhile, Lancashire have arranged a second XI friendly next week designed for James Anderson to prove his fitness for the fourth Ashes Test. The 37-year-old will add to his workload in a three-day match against Durham at Chester, having returned figures of two for 23 from nine gentle overs versus Leicestershire’s second string on Tuesday.