Jofra Archer's welcome return lifts the energy in England and India's battle of attrition

Independent

11-07-2025

At just before a quarter-to-three came the moment that plenty at Lord's had yearned for. The grand old ground looked resplendent in red as it showed its annual support of the Ruth Strauss Foundation, the scarlet on the shirts of the England players making names and numbers even more prominent. The members in the pavilion fixed their focus on the back of the man many had hoped to see; a clinking of glasses and warbling of throats to toast Jofra Archer 's most welcome return.
The famous facade and bright sun at his back, Archer began his languid approach. How he, and we, had wondered if this day would ever come; more than four years of recovery toil and injury turmoil between Test appearances, all of 18 first-class overs amid the incidents and accidents. An easy decision might have been to step away, to content oneself with white-ball riches rather than the rigours of running in with a red – but Archer soon showed why it had all been worth it.
Ball one was tapped back gently; ball two nipped past the edge. Ball three extracted a helpless Yashasvi Jaiswal, caught at second slip; by ball four, Archer was touching 93mph. Lord's, which can drift on days like these, was rapt. It had been from that same Pavilion End that Archer had shattered the serenity of Steve Smith on debut to continue his glorious summer of 2019 – here, at last, was hope that a Test story cut short has many more chapters to be written.
A pedestrian pitch was not, perhaps, the sort of surface on which England would have ideally liked to unleash their returning strike weapon but Archer's value was clear, his first over the fastest delivered by any bowler in the series so far. A match that had progressed at glacial pace – in part due to a number of bizarre delays, from ball changes to injuries and insects – was most certainly injected with energy each time he was tossed the ball.
England will have been glad to see Archer bowl with intensity in each of his 10 overs, even when asked to bump in a few bouncers, and there may well be plenty more grinding to come. This remains a slow-burn Test of classical construction, unfolding without undue haste and challenging the patience of its participants. Honours remain, just about, even, visitors India 242 in arrears but only three down.
It was a slightly strange morning of two parts, the opening stanza short, sharp and dramatic as Jasprit Bumrah ripped through England's lower middle order before a period of rather less eventful prose. An anxious night for Joe Root on 99 not out was perhaps betrayed by an airy drive at the day's first ball, a thick outside edge through the gully bringing up a 37th Test ton but betraying a batter not totally at ease.
It wasn't long until Root was trudging off to take the plaudits from the pavilion, Root gone for 104 shortly after Stokes as Bumrah, north London's finest removal man, rearranged the furniture of two set England batters to prove his class. Chris Woakes, in at No 8, lasted all of one ball – a smart review taken by Shubman Gill at the urging of catcher Dhruv Jurel, continuing to keep in the absence of Rishabh Pant.
It looked, then, as if England were ripe to be ripped through by a rampant Bumrah but the Indian charge was halted. The visitors were incensed when a ball barely 10 overs old was switched out by the umpires and rather happier when its replacement was also swapped. The use of three balls in a session will bring more scrutiny on the manufacturers in the toughest summer for Dukes since the French revolution.
Jamie Smith, by contrast, is in his pomp and fluently found another 50, breezily bringing it up from 52 balls with Brydon Carse providing doughtier support at the other end. A crucial 84-run stand was snapped eight balls after lunch by Mohammed Siraj, though, with Smith dismissed, before the brilliant Bumrah pierced Archer's defences to complete his five-for. Carse, whose maiden Test half-century had been handy, was cleaned up to leave England all out for 387.
It felt just about par on a slow surface, and England's bowlers surely knew they would have to embrace the graft in front them even after Archer's instant strike. The sight of Stokes bowling on the outfield in the morning had been heartening given overnight worries about his groin and the skipper looked smooth, thundering in from the opposite end as Archer and dislodging Karun Nair courtesy of a stunner at slip from Root.
It was a sign of the surface that Smith was soon up to the stumps for the bowling of Woakes, which made a grab from Gill's outside edge mighty sharp and important given how impenetrable the Indian captain's defence had seemed at Edgbaston. Pant (19*) was able to bat at No 5 despite his injury, though, while the well-ordered Rahul (53*) looked unhurried in every sense on a day that ended with 15 of the scheduled overs unbowled. A battle of attrition continues.