Jofra Archer enters ring to take on Jasprit Bumrah in heavyweight contest

Times

09-07-2025

Top-class fast bowlers elevate a contest. A month ago the World Test Championship final was blessed by Kagiso Rabada and Pat Cummins, two of the best, and now, with the series tantalisingly positioned, Lord's prepares to open its arms to Jasprit Bumrah, the world's best fast bowler, and Jofra Archer, who continues to be spoken of in this company, despite very limited recent evidence.
It is a mouthwatering prospect. High summer and a warm forecast. A great ground. A pitch, green-tinged and the subject of some speculation after England's stated desire for more pace and movement. A full house guaranteed for four days and two teams, coming back to near-full strength, that have probed at each other's weaknesses, and who are ready to strike what they hope will be the decisive blow.
After a four-year absence, Archer's return is eagerly awaited. Ben Stokes could not disguise his delight when confirming the selection in place of Josh Tongue, welcoming back someone, he said, who can change the mood of a game in an instant. Judging by the warm reaction Archer received at Edgbaston, when he ran drinks around the boundary edge, it is a feeling that will be shared by England supporters.
Stokes said he saw no reason why Archer could not be as good as before. While admitting that every cricketer risks injury when they play, Stokes was quick to play down the gamble of picking someone who has bowled only 18 overs in first-class cricket in the past four years, referencing the painstaking planning that has gone into readying Archer for this moment. 'If we did not think he was ready, he would not be selected,' Stokes said.
Will Archer be given the new ball alongside Chris Woakes, gliding in from the Pavilion End as he did so memorably on debut in 2019, when he felled Steve Smith, putting him out of the game? England's attack has looked flat for two run-drenched games and Archer has been picked to inject some fizz after a heavy defeat where an opposition batsman carried all before him, as was the case six years ago.
As with Smith, the hope will be that Archer can challenge Shubman Gill in a way England's other seamers have so far been unable to do. Having made 585 runs in two Tests, Gill is on the kind of run enjoyed by few in the history of the game, but Archer has a decent 'head-to-head' match-up against him, having dismissed him twice in three innings in the 2021 series. Gill has not looked hurried at all yet, and Stokes wants that to change.
All that said, there are so many reasons why expectations should be managed sensibly. The first is the length of the absence; it is 1,596 days since he last played Test cricket. Second are the injuries to his back and elbow, the curse of the fast bowler. Third is that despite a carefully planned return, limited-overs cricket has nothing on the hard grind of Test cricket. And, finally, it should be remembered that his average before all this was 31 and his strike rate 62 — numbers that suggest a bowler who endured periods of ineffectiveness too.
Yet Archer, 30, is often spoken of in reverential terms, and continues to be so despite these reservations. There are reasons for this: he has attributes that are rare in English cricket; he has bowled some electrifying spells that have stayed long in the memory, and lengthy periods out of the team play tricks on the way we think of players. In their absence, we remember their best days, not those where they made little impact at all.
At his best, he was certainly exhilarating: quick, menacing and skilful. The two most memorable passages of play in Test cricket at Lord's in recent years were in 2021, when Virat Kohli told his players to 'unleash' hell — a feeling that India will be sure to tap into over the next five days — and in 2019, when Archer squared off against Smith. But will he be as quick and as good as before? Is he physically ready for Test cricket? These are unknowns and it all adds to the intrigue this week.
There is plenty more to whet the appetite, not least the focus on Stokes after such a gruelling defeat at Edgbaston. What will he do if he wins the toss? A greenish pitch, but one that has been noticeably slow in first-class cricket this year; a hot forecast; recent results that suggest teams can chase well, but a heavy defeat after putting India in last week — these are all confusing indicators. Can the captain rediscover his batting form, and tap into the feeling that brought him Ashes hundreds on this ground in 2019 and 2023?
While Stokes gave no indication that he will wrap Archer in cotton wool — and there will be times, when a captain senses the moment, when even a fast bowler must be stretched — he will not overbowl him. So this is also a big match for Woakes, who, with three wickets at more than 90 apiece, has looked short of snap; for Brydon Carse, who struggled with his bowling boots and feet at Edgbaston, and for Shoaib Bashir, who has been milked happily by India's batsmen so far. The temptation to play Gus Atkinson has been resisted, but he will surely be ready for Old Trafford.
While England welcome Archer's return, with fingers and toes crossed, India are strengthened even more by Bumrah's anticipated return. They held their nerve and resisted the temptation to play him having lost the opening game — everyone, without exception, urged otherwise — and were well served by his replacement, Akash Deep. The psychological lift of winning without Bumrah was huge and Deep will surely keep his place at the expense of Prasidh Krishna, and will probably use the slope to good effect given the way he moved the ball off the seam in Birmingham.
It was, oddly, as a batsman not bowler that Bumrah made most impact in this corresponding fixture two years ago, when he helped Mohammed Shami add 89 for the last wicket, a critical factor in a famous win. But he also showed his nasty side as a bowler, when going after James Anderson towards the end of England's first innings with some rapid bouncers, adding to the drama and spectacle, as fast bowlers always do. Bumrah back. Archer back. All to play for. Bring it on.
England v India