England look to Brydon Carse but hope Jofra Archer will feature in India series

New York Times

5 hours ago

England will hand the new ball to Brydon Carse against India on Friday, but the role could soon be taken off him by the long-awaited return to the Test format of Jofra Archer.
Carse, usually more of an old-ball bowler in first-class cricket, will make his first home Test appearance in the series opener at Headingley, Leeds and will share opening bowling duties with the experienced Chris Woakes in the absence of a number of England fast bowlers, including Archer, Gus Atkinson and the fastest of them all, Mark Wood.
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'I know it's a different format and a different colour ball, but Brydon looked very threatening with the Kookaburra in the white-ball series against West Indies leading up to this,' said Stokes on the eve of the series. 'I think the skills Josh Tongue has makes him better suited to first change but Brydon looks more the part of a new ball bowler.'
But it is the imminent return of Archer, who has suffered a number of injury setbacks since making the last of his 13 Test appearances early in 2021, that is exciting England as they embark on a run of 10 Tests against India and Australia that will define the Bazball era.
The Barbadian-born Archer, who made a huge impact after qualifying for England in 2019, is due to play for Sussex in their County Championship match against Durham on Sunday and, if he comes through that, could be in line to make his England red-ball comeback in the second Test against India at Edgbaston at the beginning of July.
'It's really exciting for England and, most particularly, Jofra that we now have a plan to get him through to being considered for Test selection again,' said Stokes. 'He's been absolutely desperate to put that white shirt on again.
'Before this season started, he would randomly text me saying 'Zim?' (asking to be selected to face Zimbabwe in the first Test of this summer) but I was like: 'Let's just hold on. I know you're in a good place but let's not rush into it.'
'He's had a horrific time with injuries but he's in a position now where we're looking to build his overs and loads to hopefully be considered at some point for this series, which would be great.'
The England captain backed the decision to retain Ollie Pope at No 3 ahead of Jacob Bethell, adding: 'It would be remarkable to choose someone else over a player who has just scored 171 (against Zimbabwe) and that's pretty much all I need to say about that.'
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