Pace ace's sparkling return has England eyeing Ashes
There is a Test series against India to be won yet, and while England are 2-1 up after victory at Lord's India's competitiveness means no one is taking a series win for granted.
But ... the Ashes ...
Archer bowled 39.2 overs across the two India innings, taking 5-107 as England won by 22 runs late on Monday's final day. It was his first Test back after a four-and-a-half-year absence and his pace and impact hugely encouraged England fans hoping to see him running at Perth in November.
Stokes went with a hunch to hand Archer the ball first thing when India resumed on 4-58 chasing 193 on the final day.
Archer claimed the crucial wicket of Rishabh Pant, knocking his off-stump out of the ground, then took a leaping catch off his own bowling to see off Washington Sundar and put England on top.
"I just had this gut feeling that something was going to happen in Jof's first time back in the Test match team, sometimes your gut works, I guess," England captain Stokes said.
"Every time he gets announced that he's going to bowl, you just hear the ground erupt and when he turns it on, the feeling in the game just changes. What an amazing effort from him to get through those overs. It's great to have him back."
Archer regularly bowled at speeds of up to 145 kph. But he was managed by Stokes, never doing more than five-over spells and spaced well apart.
"It was pretty hectic, for the first game back," he said. "I probably bowled a few more overs than I thought I would've but every single one mattered today so I'm not too fussed about it.
"Managing the workload is still very hard, being told you can bowl some days and not others.
"I'm not totally out of the woods yet but it's a good start," he said.
Stokes bowled 44 overs himself in the match, taking 5-111, an effort and return that also bodes well for England given the balance his bowling brings to the side.
The 34-year-old admitted he was a "shadow" of his normal self following a hard five days in the Test at Headingley but he went again at Lord's.
He followed up a nine-over spell in the morning session, in which he ended the dogged resistance of KL Rahul, with a 10-over burst after lunch, making the only breakthrough in the session by winkling out the resolute Jasprit Bumrah.
"Bowling to win a Test match for your country, if that doesn't get you up, I don't know what does," Stokes said.
with agencies
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