Archer hits target with six of the best
MAN-OF-THE-MOMENT Jofra Archer claimed a brilliant six-wicket haul at Headingley as England bundled Australia out for 179 on a rain-affected first day of the third Ashes Test.
Archer whipped up a frenzy of excitement with a thrilling debut performance in last week’s draw at Lord’s but was even more effective under murky skies in Leeds, claiming six for 45 as the tourists lost their last eight wickets for 43 in a transformative evening session.
Only 52.1 overs were possible as the weather wrecked the first half of the day but with David Warner’s dicey 61 and Marnus Labuschagne’s battling 74 the only knocks of any note, that was enough for Archer.
His first performance in England whites saw him crank the speed gun up past 96.1mph and clatter three different batsmen on the head but this was a subtler showing
of cerebral seam bowling.
Not once breaching the 90mph barrier and using the short ball sparingly, he instead probed away in more traditional areas, harvesting four outside edges and a deflection into the stumps to toast a maiden five-wicket haul.
Returning to send down the final over of the day and Australia nine down, he capped a thrilling performance by pinning last man Nathan Lyon lbw.
After his marathon effort in the second Test and his six-wicket haul at Headingley, Archer was looking forward to putting his feet up.
“Firstly, it means I get to rest. We’ve been in the field all day, it was stop-start all day, which is really annoying,” he said.
“You start to bowl well and then you have to go off and start again. I’m over the moon to get six wickets but equally happy just to get off.
“The ball just started swinging randomly from the over before the Warner wicket. It got a bit more overcast and then from then on the ball was really good.
“We thought it was going to be a repeat of Lord’s and losing the first day. But we got a large portion of the bad weather out of the way today.”