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Archer reminds Stokes of his quality as England target Lord's for Test return

Archer reminds Stokes of his quality as England target Lord's for Test return

New York Times21 hours ago
Jofra Archer gave Ben Stokes a 'wake-up call' on his return to the England Test squad this week and is set to return to the fold for the first time since February 2021 in the third game against India at Lord's.
The fast bowler, whose career has been hampered by serious elbow and back issues, impressed the England captain in the nets as England prepared for the second match of the five-match series, which starts at Edgbaston on Wednesday.
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Archer missed Monday's session to attend to a family problem, but Stokes is ready to throw him into next week's third game on the back of just 18 overs with the red ball for Sussex in their recent drawn County Championship match against Durham.
'Jofra got the ball swinging in the nets with effortless pace,' said Stokes of Tuesday's practice session. 'It's been quite a while since I faced him so it was a little bit of a wake-up call for me as well.
'He's building up here to be in contention for next week. It will be tight having back-to-back matches (there are just three days between the scheduled end of the second Test and the start of the third) and it will be nice to have fresh bowlers to choose from.
'Jofra was in contention to play this week and unless anything goes wrong, I can't see why he won't be next week.'
England resisted the temptation to throw Archer straight into the fray at Edgbaston as they look to increase their 1-0 lead in the series. But they are clearly happy with his workload with Stokes having decided against releasing Archer to play in the second half of Sussex's Championship game against Warwickshire.
'It's been a long time since Jof's been in the Test environment and it was very important for him to be around the group this week,' added the England captain.
'When he was last involved, the environment was completely different and how me and Baz (coach Brendon McCullum) think about the time we spend as a group is very important.
'We considered sending him back to play for Sussex but he has bowled a lot of overs and, here, he can bowl at our lads and help out. We want him to play a part in this series and going forward.'
There was a familiar face at England practice on Tuesday as Andrew Flintoff, now coach of the second-string Lions side, joined up with the coaching staff 20 years after he played a leading role in the classic Edgbaston Test of the 2005 England victory.
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'It's been a constant thing for us to get England greats into our environment (Moeen Ali was at Edgbaston on Monday to work with fellow off-spinner Shoaib Bashir for the first time) and helping out,' said Stokes.
'If you are a cricket fan, you gravitate towards someone like Freddie (Flintoff) because of his character and what he did on the field. It's great having someone like him find his love for cricket again after a spell out of the game and also helping the next generation.'
It is Stokes who now carries the all-round load for England and the captain admitted the effort of playing a leading role with the ball at Headingley on his return to full fitness after a serious hamstring injury (he bowled 35 overs in the match) took its toll.
'I was tired both physically and mentally because it's been a long time since I've been able to perform that role without thinking about how much I was going to bowl,' he said. 'It was a big week and we were in the field and bowled four out of the five days, so I used the three days after the game to offer nothing to the world.
'But I'm feeling good now. I thought I managed to maintain my pace and I did everything possible to make sure I didn't have to worry about things like fitness outside of what you normally worry about during a game. It was a good week.'
While England exuded positivity and calm on the eve of the Edgbaston Test, India conveyed a feeling of uncertainty — perhaps even confusion.
India captain Shubman Gill delayed his decision on whether star bowler Jasprit Bumrah will play after again insisting he will feature in no more than three matches in this series to protect his fitness.
Washington Sundar, who offers more batting strength, may feature as a second spinner in support of Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Kuldeep Yadav.
Click here to follow cricket on The Athletic and see more stories like this.
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