After four years of operations and rehab sessions that would have seen him shed blood, sweat and tears, Archer took just three balls of his comeback Test here against India to remind everybody what all the fuss was about.
The scream, the face and the celebratory sprint to his team-mates said it all – one of England’s fastest bowlers was back and he was loving every minute.
JOFRA ARCHER IS BACK!
In the first over of his return to Test cricket he takes the wicket of Jaiswal - pic.twitter.com/sx363Aw5UA
However, it was the return of Archer, on the ground where he made his Test debut against Australia six years ago, that proved the most compelling narrative and one that only cynics would sneer at given just how hard the 30-year-old has had to work since making his last Test appearance at Ahmedabad in February 2021.
This time he struck 93.6mph with his fourth ball. It was the quickest of the series so far, while his opening spell, which averaged 89.8mph, was the third-quickest by an England opening bowler since ball-by-ball data began in 2006.
The Lord’s crowd knew it, too, with the atmosphere cranked up along with the speed gun as the video screen operators began flashing up the speeds of every Archer delivery that hit 90mph or above. At one point during that opening spell, it was every ball.
"That's what crowds come to see"
Ravi Shastri describes the atmosphere at Lord's when Jofra Archer took that wicket pic.twitter.com/S13kgWbzh9
By the end of a day that had seen him start out with a wicket maiden, he had sent down 10 overs, including three maidens, for the cost of 22 runs.
There is, of course, a bigger picture here. England hope this is the first step on Archer’s journey towards this winter’s Ashes in Australia, where the dream will be to have him in the same squad as Mark Wood, a bowler who is even quicker.
Speaking back in his native Barbados in June of last year during the T20 World Cup, Archer had admitted: “Probably the only thing they haven’t planned out is my showers.”
Jasprit Bumrah earned a five-wicket haul earlier in the day at Lord’s (Photo: Getty)“Sometimes you feel like a burden not playing,” he had said. “I’ve seen a few comments, people saying: ‘He’s on the longest paid holiday I’ve ever seen.’ You try to not let it get to you.”
“It’s great,” he said of Archer’s return. “The noise, the pure joy everyone has seeing him back in whites, the genuine excitement to see him playing Test cricket again.
“He’s X-factor. It’s a bit like India turning to Bumrah. It’s great to see him being so impactful.”
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