Believe the hype! Jofra Archer has all the skills required for England to take the fight to the Australians

Archer's Test debut is perhaps the most hyped since Kevin Pietersen's in 2005
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Will Macpherson13 August 2019

Can you remember an England Test debut more eagerly anticipated than Jofra Archer's at Lord's tomorrow?

By the player himself, who for all his laidback charm — Joe Root revealed yesterday that he was asleep in the dressing room shortly before bowling his first ball against South Africa in the World Cup — is a cricket obsessive.

That there is an Archer tweet to be dug up from 2013-15 about every cricketing situation says it all. At that point he was watching the game relentlessly, wanting out of Barbados and dreaming of this moment. Even yesterday he could not resist another tweet: "Would love to get on the honours board."

And by the public, who have seen him dominate domestic leagues, then take more wickets at a World Cup than any English bowler ever. "He's had a different journey to a lot of the other guys," said Root, always understated.

Since, he has partied back in Barbados (as rehabilitation for a side injury), then peeled off six for spit and a century against the unwitting teenagers of Gloucestershire Second XI last week to really get the hype train rolling. Videos of him making fools of county batsmen by making the red Dukes ball move prodigiously in the Championship have duly been rolled out.

Ashes 2019: England's squad for the third Test

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Make no mistake, Archer is worth the fuss and offers something genuinely different: proper pace and height. He releases the ball from an awkward 7ft 1in — three inches higher than Stuart Broad, who is two inches taller, at 6ft 5in.

He has a superb record in first-class cricket — 131 wickets at 23 in 28 games, as well as a batting average of 31 — and prefers the red-ball game to the limited overs formats in which he has made his name.

There is a unique confidence about the 24-year-old and he seems certain that he does not need to be used in short spells, purely as an impact bowler.

That mantle might shift to Ben Stokes, who could move up to No4 to accommodate another angle of attack, in Sam Curran at the expense of Joe Denly, especially if the forecast rain appears tomorrow. Another alternative is that spinner Jack Leach does not play if the game looks like being a short one.

Archer is not a white-baller being chanced into Test cricket but, as he said yesterday, do not expect miracles from ball one. If England are to wrestle their way back into this series, it will require more than the weather staying fair and rolling out the most-hyped debutant since Kevin Pietersen in 2005.

Archer laughed off Langer's comments about him being worn down by the tourists
PA

Archer will become the 33rd cricketer to play under Root, but it is the regulars who need to stand up, such as in the middle order, where Root needs more from Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow. Any World Cup hangovers must surely have lifted by now.

In James Anderson's absence, it is incumbent on Broad and Chris Woakes to step up again. Both have terrific records at Lord's, including a century each. Only Anderson has more than Broad's 90 wickets there, while Woakes is even better: in four Tests, he has three five-wicket hauls and averages 9.75, hence Root describing him as "very much in love with playing at Lord's".

If the core of the side deliver, England will be in a strong position, regardless of how Archer goes.

It is not just England who have a pace ace up their sleeve. One of Josh Hazlewood or Mitchell Starc will return, with James Pattinson to be rested. Starc used the Lord's slope to great effect during the World Cup, but Australia's method is to dry up England's boundary options, so Hazlewood's parsimony might just win out.

For all this, both teams have been focusing heavily on spin between Tests. Nathan Lyon bowled England out at Edgbaston, so Simon Harmer — easily the best off-spinner in county cricket — was brought in for nets yesterday.

Steve Smith, meanwhile, has been practising plenty against left-arm spin, in preparation for Leach. Do not read too much into his supposedly meagre average of 35 against left-arm orthodox; that hardly counts as an achilles heel.

Smith remains the major roadblock for England, who cannot afford to go 2-0 down. Only one team has come back from that in the Ashes: Don Bradman's lot in 1936/37. From that position, England would be asking for immediate miracles from Archer.

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