‘Distraught’ Archer out of Ashes – but still has Test future, says Key
With their bowlers dropping like flies, it is important that hosts get plenty of runs on the board during the Ashes
A “distraught” Jofra Archer should take inspiration from Australia captain Pat Cummins to keep his Test career alive after the England bowler was ruled out of the Ashes, managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key has said.
Scans have revealed a fresh stress fracture to Archer’s right elbow that will prevent the 28-year-old from playing any part in this summer’s series, which begins in under a month’s time, and also leaves him as a doubt for this year’s ODI World Cup defence in October.
Archer is likely to return to Barbados, where he grew up, for yet another period of rehabilitation. It is his third stress fracture in three years.
Key insisted that Archer, who returned home early from the Indian Premier League last week, had not yet been ruled out of the World Cup, and cited the example of Cummins, who waited six years between his first Test in 2011 and his second in 2017 because of injury, only to return in style. Archer, having burst onto the scene in 2019, has played 13 Tests, the last in February 2021.
“People like Pat Cummins missed a lot of cricket at the early stage of his career. Now Australia have seen the benefit,” Key said. “Jofra deserves a bit of luck. The poor lad is pretty distraught with what’s happened. You just hope that luck turns for him. It’s going to be a taxing road to go down to get this fixed, but I’m sure we’ll see him back.”
Kevin Pietersen suggested Archer should pursue a franchise, not international, career (Archer represents Mumbai Indians in the IPL and MI Cape Town in the SA20).
“I think this will probably end his journey with English cricket,” the 2005 Ashes winner said. “I think the longer form of the game has passed him by. English cricket has probably passed him by. It’s no fault of his own, he’s just injury prone.”
Ben Stokes has made it clear he wants a quick bowler in his line-up and has demanded fast and flat pitches. I will give England a clue: we don’t do fast and bouncy wickets in England.
It looks to me like they are going to have to rely on skill: James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson. Mark Wood becomes more valuable by the minute, but how many Tests will he play? What England have done brilliantly is bat aggressively and create doubt in batsmen’s minds by posting funky fields and bowling short to the tail-enders.
Without Jofra Archer, this attack will need movement with the ball and Stokes being very clever in the fields he sets. It is clear they are also going to need a lot of runs, but then we come to the conundrum for England.
If the pitches are spicy they will bowl Australia out, but can their own batting unit score runs? They are vulnerable playing aggressively against the moving ball, as we saw against South Africa at Lord’s last year.
That is why you need flat wickets to play an expansive game, but do England have flat-wicket bowlers with the quicks injured? No.
My concern is pace, and always has been with English cricket. We generally play well when we have a quick bowler in our side. Wood is such an important figure now. And Stokes. Can he bowl? We are looking at an England side who could go into the first Ashes Test with Robinson who has had an injection in his back, Stokes who is on one leg and Anderson who has a groin problem. Broad has been OK with injuries but is not getting any younger and Woakes is the same. It is a bowling attack with injury records, so it is important they get lots of runs on the board.
Zak Crawley is very lucky and he has to maximise this chance. I cannot think of another player over the past 20 years who has had as many opportunities to open the batting as him. His record does not really stack up in terms of guaranteeing his place, but I see what they are trying to achieve with him.
It is a bit like the Indian Premier League, where teams have 14 games and pick players hoping they will impact three or four of them. England know Zak is not going to be a consistent Alastair Cook type at the top of the order but they will ask, can he impact three or four innings in 10 in the Ashes? By impact I mean getting England off to a flying start. He played well against the Aussies in Sydney and he is the kind of player who should have success against the Australia attack. He likes to drive the ball and pull.
He has the tools to take them on. It is just when to play those shots that is the problem. He has hard hands going at the ball, which brings the outside edge into play and leaves a gap between bat and pad that offers bowled and lbw. Australia will look at him and Ben Duckett and feel they can get England two down very quickly and soon get after Joe Root with the hard ball.
Crawley and Duckett are talented and dangerous but the Aussies will not fear the opening partnership.
The fact England have stuck by Crawley tells me he is a good team man. That is not the be-all and endall. It just helps in sport if someone is a positive figure around the group. But make no mistake, that only lasts while the team are winning. If England lose and he does not score any runs, he will be left out.
Jonny Bairstow was England’s best player last year. And this is what I like about England at the moment in white-ball and red-ball cricket: there is depth, so if you lose your place through injury someone else like Harry Brook comes in and dominates. Even though Bairstow is world class he still knows he needs to perform.
None of these players are locked in for the next 20-30 Tests because there is a lot of pressure. Ben Foakes is a world-class keeper but is not in the team. That is how much competition they have.
I liked England picking 15 for the Ireland Test. It is clear they are getting the Ashes squad together that week and will work with them, setting the strategy for the Ashes.
I love this expansive game and I wake up on Test mornings more excited than ever because of the way England play, but they have to keep buying into it against Australia and not be distracted by the Ashes pressure. If they lose the first Test, don’t doubt it. It is the way you play. Go harder.
I did notice something when they lost to New Zealand in Wellington. Look at that run chase. They did not play as expansively as they had done in the previous 10 Tests. All I would say is don’t change.
England are like the Newcastle United side of the 1990s. We are going to score one more than you. England are not going to win the Ashes 5-0 the way they are playing, but they can win 3-2.
I wake up on Test mornings excited because of the way England play, but they have to keep buying into it