(^) Daily Mail, Friday, August 23, 2019
90 THE ASHES THIRD TEST
ARCHER THE
SUPERHERO
RIDES TO
ROOT’S RESCUE
F
or one horrible hour
yesterday England were
so shocking that Joe
root’s decision to bowl in
this pivotal third Test
looked to have blown up in his
face and the Ashes appeared to
be slipping from his grasp.
The umpires had controversially and
surely wrongly taken the players off for
bad light with the floodlights shining at
Headingley and when they returned
after tea, England seemed to be striving
too hard to make up for lost time.
So inaccurate were Chris Woakes and,
in particular, Ben Stokes that 79 runs
flew off the bats of David Warner and
Marnus Labuschagne in only 13 overs.
The mutterings began about what was
looking like an almighty English
cock-up.
So bad did England become that man-
of-the-moment Jofra Archer almost
became a symbol of their shoddy day
when he was chastised by Woakes for a
lazy piece of fielding that saw one
Australian run become two.
Yet just when England were most in
need of salvation, who should the cap-
tain call? The man who has become his
very own Aussie-buster, Archer.
That’s who.
How could this remarkable new-
comer follow his World Cup final
super over and the most terrorising
of Test debuts at Lord’s? By taking
six wickets as Australia spectacu-
larly blew their hard-earned advan-
tage. That’s how.
And the scary thing about a per-
formance that sent Australia
crashing from 136 for two to 179
all out on another day shortened
by rain is that Archer did not seem
to be anywhere near his best, cer-
tainly not in terms of the extreme
speeds he reached at Lord’s.
Perhaps Archer, in only his third
first-class match in a year, was
simply feeling the effects of the 44
mostly brutal overs he sent down
on a debut that only finished on
Sunday.
or, far more impressively, per-
haps, as Archer suggested after-
wards, this was a wise cricketing
head on inexperienced shoulders
assessing conditions, going
through the gears and realising
the rest of this match, England
will never have a better chance of
piling on the runs today and gain-
ing the series-levelling victory
they simply must earn here if they
are to achieve a come-from-
behind Ashes triumph.
If this was yet another day when
Archer announced himself as a
very special talent, then the
contribution of experienced Ashes
campaigner Stuart Broad was
almost as significant.
root smiled ahead of this Test
when he said Broad was rather
enjoying going under the radar in
this Specsavers series while
taking 10 wickets in the first two
Tests and leaving Archer to soak
up all the headlines and all the
attention.
It was the same story here as
Broad — who, it should be remem-
bered, came into this Test sum-
mer far from certain of keeping his
place — was brilliant again. He
ensured root did not regret the
gamble he took when he looked
up rather than down at the toss.
Time and again Broad beat the
bat while bowling fuller than ever
before and at a decent pace, too.
Time and again Warner in particu-
lar rode his luck.
After Archer had sent back Aus-
tralia’s new opener Marcus Harris,
Broad got in on the act to dismiss
Usman Khawaja with a rare bad
ball and the help of a review. The
veteran then produced a stunner
to take Travis Head’s off-bail.
Warner had battled hard to
finally reach double figures in this
series. During England’s indisci-
plined hour, he twice benefited
from wild fielding to earn two lots
of five overthrows as his 100 part-
nership with Labuschagne came
up in only 21 overs.
But after surviving the second of
three incorrect decisions by Chris
Gaffaney that were overturned by
technology when he was wrongly
given caught behind off Broad on
that probing accuracy was more
important here than raw pace.
Whatever the reason, it was only
when Archer forced David Warner
to edge a beauty through to Jonny
Bairstow to take the second of his
six wickets that he came close to
touching the 90 mile per hour
mark that was almost a given at
Lord’s.
After that he revved up to
become near-unplayable again as
an Australian side missing the
best batsman in the world, Steve
Smith, showed just how vulnera-
ble they are and England dramati-
cally seized the initiative.
Now, with sunshine promised for
THE ASHES
PAUL
NEWMAN
Cricket Correspondent
reports from Headingley
Star attraction:
Archer has
Harris caught
by Bairstow and
celebrates (left)
ACTION IMAGES
11.05am Root wins the toss and
chooses to bowl.
12.10pm After a rain delay of over an
hour, the game finally gets under way.
12.25pm Archer has Harris caught
behind. Australia 12-1.
12.27pm After less than 20 minutes,
rain stops play. Early lunch.
1.57pm Play resumes and five overs
later, Broad has Khawaja caught
behind. Australia 25-2.
2.50pm Rain stops play again.
3.42pm Players come back out.
3.55pm Teams taken off for bad light.
4.28pm Play restarts and Warner and
Labuschagne begin to find their
rhythm, helped by wayward bowling
from Chris Woakes and Ben Stokes.
DAY OF DRAMA
AT THE TEST...
By WILL JEANES
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