Archer’s fire burns low as renewed duel with Smith turns into a damp squib
Paceman faced idiotic chants from Australia fans and resurgent display by his great rival
The two Australia fans who were ejected by police after abusing Jofra Archer got what they deserved. “Jofra, show us your passport,” they shouted, and “enjoy your visit to England”. The pair topped it off with chants of: “Barbados, Barbados, Barbados.”
With his trousers flapping in the wind, and his hands in pockets, Archer turned to fix the clowns with a cold stare. Two spectators in
front of the amateur comedians went off in search of assistance and returned with a pair of constables, who took the tormentors down the stairwell for a long debrief. There is no scope for English piety when it comes to rowdiness, but it was disquieting to see Archer hounded on nationality grounds. A foretaste, too, of what he can expect when he tours Australia as a tall poppy Pom.
This was the day when Archer’s spectacular rise ran into a few cold realities – not all of them meteorological. Archer’s battle with Steve Smith was hyped so feverishly it was threatening to knock the Manchester derby off its perch. Appropriately for a fire-starter capable of bowling at 96mph, Archer’s fame has risen at a dazzling pace. If Ben Stokes is the man who will stand up to Australia every second of every day, Archer is the one who would first knock them down.
The excitement around him is entirely valid. The sweet menace of his bowling is matched by the economy of his language in delivering pithy provocations to Australia, who appear unsure what to make of him. Just about the dream star for any England fan is a bowler who can batter and clatter Australia batsmen while winding the opposition up with a conciseness the great Elmore Leonard would have admired.
But Test match cricket is no bed of roses and Archer was bound to have days light on rampage and romance. Even without the fatigue of competing at this level for a whole summer, the side strain he played through at the World Cup and the unhelpful conditions at some grounds, we were pushing our luck to expect him to work wonders all the way through a six-week 50-over tournament and an intense five-test marathon.
On a day when autumn came storming into Manchester uninvited, bringing a dash of winter as its upstart guest, the hotly anticipated Archer-smith duel failed to ignite during a morning session in which England took two early wickets, but then backed off. At 11.35am, a roar shook Old Trafford as Smith emerged from his concussion break to resume hostilities with the young gun who had smashed a ball into his neck at Lord’s at 92.4mph.
That day in London, Archer pierced the bubble Smith had fashioned around himself. He found a violent way through the immovability myth. Smith went off the field and came back out, but the damage had been done. The proof was in the two plastic shock absorbers attached to the back of his helmet here: neck guards, which the world’s best batsman had said he hated, calling them “claustrophobic”.
The symbolism of Smith’s concession to the threat of Archer was striking. Smith has overcome deep personal preference for self-preservation. Archer can take that as a compliment. But it guaranteed him nothing as Smith sought to reassert his hold on the series.
Australia’s talisman left Archer’s first delivery outside off stump and then found himself on his haunches for the second: a too-short bouncer. Archer’s pace rose from 83 to 87 mph: not enough for those critics who felt he was holding back when he should have been steaming in. In his second over to the human dartboard, Archer was smeared through the covers for four, then tried another high bouncer.
In the 12th over he was replaced by Stokes at the Statham End, as the hero of Headingley shared the pre-lunch burden with Jack Leach and Craig Overton.
“I get there is a huge expectation on the guy because of the impact he’s made on cricket this summer, but I feel it’s harsh everyone jumps on Jofra Archer’s back the moment he drops below 90 mph,” wrote Chris Tremlett, the former England international, on Twitter. “He’s had a long summer and isn’t a robot. Give him a break please, it’s his third game!”