London [UK], July 15 : England tearaway Jofra Archer is willing to do everything in his power to secure a ticket on the plane that will fly to Australia in November to face their fierce rival and fight for the coveted Ashes urn.
Archer returned to the Test fold after four years of absence, during which injuries plagued him. He tested the speed gun to its limits with his scorching pace and muzzled the Indian spectators with his relentless spells. In the first innings, Archer struck at crucial junctures and scalped priceless wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Washington Sundar.
While England's 193-run defence, when wicket was the need of the hour on the final day, he bowled in tandem and wreaked havoc. Within the blink of an eye, he rattled Rishabh Pant's top of the off-stump with a searing delivery to set the tempo of the day. Pant failed to grasp the rocket that Archer unleashed from his loaded arsenal.
He continued to run rampant and lured Washington Sundar to push the ball back into his hands and return for a duck to mark his return in the whites with match figures of 5/105. After constantly bowling around 145kph, Archer has eight days to recover for the Manchester Test next week. He is willing to bowl in the remaining two Tests to push his case for the Ashes in November.
"I can play the other two [against India] if they let me. I don't want to lose this series. I told Keysey [England men's managing director, Rob Key] I wanted to play the Test summer and I wanted to play the Ashes. I think one tick is already there, and I will do everything possible in my power to be on the plane in November," he told Sky Sports.
In his first outing under the dynamic duo of head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes, his outing could have barely unfolded any better. Archer is glad about spending time in the long period of rehab, which eventually paid off.
"Obviously, it [Test cricket] would have been the format which would have taken the most time to come back to. So I played 50-over [and] T20 for the last year, year and a half, two years. And you always just wondered... the guys have played some really exciting cricket since Baz [McCullum] took over. I think the mentality of the team under Baz suits the way I like to play my cricket. So, you know, I just couldn't wait to get back and actually do it without having to be prompted to do it," he said.
England squad for the 4th Test against India: Ben Stokes (Captain), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.