Jofra Archer bowled the fastest opening spell of his Test career as England produced a relentless, high-quality bowling display on day two of the second Test against Pakistan at Lord’s.
England skittled the visitors for 110 in their first innings, with Ollie Robinson taking 4-11, Archer 3-26 and Josh Tongue 2-27, with Archer having set the tone with a blistering five-over burst before lunch that brought the opening breakthrough.
According to CricViz, Archer’s opening spell averaged 90.7 mph, with the odd delivery touching 94 mph. He picked up the flat-footed Shan Masood caught behind as Pakistan limped to lunch at 16-2 after 14.1 overs of superb pace bowling.
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“That was quality, high quality,” England fast bowler Mark Wood enthused on Sky Sports Cricket. “If you want to come and watch international sport at its very best, this was it.
“England were relentless with their line and length and passed it on to the next bowler and the next. It was top quality.
“Pakistan didn’t do a lot wrong but the scoreboard didn’t go anywhere because they were under pressure.
“Archer was very fast and intimidating, he ran in hard and just kept getting quicker and quicker.
“You could almost feel how uncomfortable it was for the batters from the commentary box.”
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Sky Sports Cricket‘s Nasser Hussain pointed to England’s varied attack as adding an extra layer of difficulty for Pakistan.
Tongue struck twice either side of the lunch interval, with Abdullah Shafique (5) and Babar Azam (8) poking edges through to the wicketkeeper and third slip, respectively, while Robinson overturned a couple of ‘not out’ lbw decisions on field on his way to stunning figures of 4-11 from 13 overs.
He is now averaging a staggering 8.84 with the ball since his return to the Test team earlier this summer.
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“The challenge of facing this England bowling attack is the difference in paces, skills and angles,” Hussain said.
“Robinson has a very high release point and is bang on the perpendicular, which allows him to get bounce.
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“Tongue is so far past the perpendicular, so that’s why he finds angles to open the right-handers up and make them vulnerable to nicking off.
“And it was a box-office opening spell from Archer.”
Broad: No luck for Archer | Pacer jokes he could ‘play until 40’
Archer continued to prove a pest to Pakistan throughout the day, albeit without benefiting from a great deal of luck as he repeatedly threatened both edges of the bat – Azan Awais (46) playing and missing as many as 14 times to the quick.
He’d ultimately helped clean up the tail – Pakistan’s final five wickets falling for just 19 runs – to finish with 3-26.
“He had no luck,” former England seamer Stuart Broad said on Sky Sports Cricket. “He could have been walking away with a five-for today, Archer.
Jofra Archer took 3-26 as Pakistan were bowled out for 110 but could have returned even better figures
“The pace, the skill, he swung and seamed the ball, while he also bowled a couple of beautiful bouncers.
“England have been brilliant with the ball. We know this pitch is moving, but you’ve still got to get the ball in the right areas and threaten, and England, to a man, were on the money.
“They were relentless, they gave no free, cheap boundaries away. It looked a really impressive bowling unit.”
Archer, meanwhile, believes a lack of luck has been a recurring theme for him of late.
“I haven’t had luck for a few weeks now but when you are bowling you have to hang in there because when wickets come, they come in buckets,” he told Sky Sports Cricket.
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“With Azan today, I have never seen someone play and miss so many balls and not get out, so whatever he did, fair play to him.”
Archer, feeling fresh, added: “It is nice having extra seamers in the line-up. Everybody is fit and firing and every day it will be someone else’s turn.
“I bowled 12 overs today; in the last game I bowled nine, so it’s unbelievable.
“I can probably play until 40 at this rate!”
Watch day three of England’s second Test match against Pakistan at Lord’s live on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15pm on Saturday. Not got Sky? Latest Sky Sports deals or stream no contract