Agony this time for Archer against old foe but he is still England’s great discovery
Pace bowler has survived and thrived under a harsh spotlight of the five-day cricket format
When Matthew Wade turned for a second run he ran straight into the future of English quick bowling, who loomed above him and sent him scuttling back to his crease with an awed expression. Australia’s No6 found Jofra Archer blocking his path and beat a retreat like a boy confronted by a giant.
Wade was Archer’s third wicket too, on a day when The Smith was a one-man band in Manchester. Steve Smith fell to Jack Leach for 82 but Archer claimed Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Wade, caught behind by Jonny Bairstow after the pair had shared some lively verbal exchanges. Archer declined to give Wade a send-off, gliding past him silently as if words would be wasted on such a lowly enemy.
Archer has made a familiar discovery. After the overnight sensation come the skewed expectations. From when England’s new demolition man put Smith on the deck at Lord’s he created a problem for himself. From then on, every delivery would exceed 90mph, every batsman would quake. For the first time since Andrew Flintoff the bars would clear for a player capable of turning bowling into a kind of assault. This, at 24 years of age, on his Test match debut. Roll up, roll up to watch lightning strike.
It never works like this. The rocket of instant fame always wobbles on its ascent and people overstate the turbulence. Archer’s figures of nought for 97 from 25 overs in Australia’s first innings were his worst in a first-class match. His speeds hovered around the mid-eighties and at times he looked flat, disconsolate. Maybe Smith’s harrowing experience at Lord’s had troubled him more than he cared to admit. Perhaps the strain of excelling in a six-week World Cup then starting his Test career in the Ashes were draining him of purpose and energy.
When the probable wreckage of this Old Trafford Test is sifted, Archer will still be England’s great discovery. The inquests would range from the inability to switch from white-ball mode to team selection and some shockingly self-indulgent batting. Stuart Broad will emerge with credit, Ben Stokes is a bona fide colossus and Rory Burns has restored the art of fighting off the new ball.
But Archer is the one England can build a Test attack around, so long as they treat him as a long-term asset rather than one to be exploited now, as English cricket’s priorities shift between formats. Here is an athlete whose programme needs managing and whose rising profile must not be allowed to divert him from the path of self-improvement as the new star in the firmament. England will need to get to know him better and tailor his workload to his personality.
Already they know he can be sparked into vengeful flurries. The arch competitor in him came back out when England crept to 301 in their first innings, with Australia 196 ahead, and tore into Australia’s top order, removing David Warner, Marcus Harris, Labuschagne and Head for 44.
Archer played his part in that counter-attack, climbing to 93.4mph and swapping taunts with Head, who had tried to needle him on Friday with esoteric jibes about his loyalty to his Big Bash franchise. Archer, who dishes it out too on Twitter, is already on the front line of Ashes mind games.
No modern England cricketer has taken to the summer stage under fiercer lights. The leap from 50-over extravaganza to five-day chess is one few England batsmen have been able to make. In England’s first innings, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow were bowled middle stump driving at dangerous deliveries as if to prove they are still seeing a white ball fly at them.
The adjustment has been just as tough for Archer, who has graduated from four-day county matches to bowling under intense scrutiny at Lord’s, Headingley and Old Trafford to the old Australian foe.
Several sages came to his rescue after that nought for 97, for which his range was off and his aggression level down. That faltering display reflected England’s wider failure to exploit the Ben Stokes bounce from Headingley – their passivity in the first innings,
He has gone from county games to bowling under intense scrutiny
when disquiet about the state of the pitch turned into moaning and England backed off when Australia were 28 for two. Twice in this match Australia declared, leaving England needing 383 to win and more than a day at the crease to survive for a draw. As Paine’s belated second declaration came, Stokes waited for Archer to leave the field to congratulate him and begin the process of ensuring he feels part of a set-up he joined only in May.
If the Lord’s “super over” was his introduction to the ecstasy of international success, this was the agony. He watched in the fading light of day four as England disintegrated under Pat Cummins’ brilliant assault and Rory Burns and Joe Root were both removed for nought. Archer has lived a lifetime in one summer.