Ashes 2019: Stuart Broad Says Jofra Archer Will Blow Teams Away

Jofra Archer has been in news for a fairly long time, often for his prediction tweets. Now, he has finally made his Test debut in the second Ashes Test against Australia on August 14 at Lord’s. He picked up his first Test wicket on another rain-affected day in his sixth over when he trapped Cameron Bancroft before the wicket.

His bowling not only impressed the fans but England’s second most successful Test bowler as well. Stuart Broad praised the youngster in the post-match presentation, saying, “Jofra has got all the attributes and is already a successful international cricketer and there are times when he will blow teams away.”

“It was a bit of a learner for him this morning maybe a yard too short for all of us until we made a conscious effort to get it fuller but that was a bit of getting used to the slope in red ball cricket. That said he showed great control, bowls a nice nagging length and there were no doubts he had the attributes to be a Test cricketer,” expressed Broad.

Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first where they put up 258 on the board on the back of two fifties from Rory Burns and Jonny Bairstow. Meanwhile, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon bagged 3 wickets each for Australia.

While chasing, Stuart Broad handed over the first breakthrough by removing David Warner for mere 3. Jofra Archer then dismissed Cameron Bancroft for 13 and soon Australia were reduced to 60-2 to 71-4 before Steve Smith and Matthew Wade took the charge and took them to 80-4 at lunch. Australia trail England by 178 runs and have six wickets remaining.

“We are pretty positive,” told Broad when he was asked about the match. “We would need to bowl Australia out by lunch but there is 98 overs a day which has been enough for both sides to bowl each other out hasn’t it?”

“There is certainly hope for both sides and there could be an intriguing game for both sides. We need six wickets by lunch and then ideally bat till an hour half and hour before lunch on day five and try and force a result that way,” he further added.

Apart from Archer, Broad took 2 wickets while Chris Woakes took 1 as of now. “These conditions at Lord’s have been a bit favourable to the bowler on day one and day two, but that’s not taking away anything he brings. You feel even on day four and day five pitches with his height and bounce, he’s going to bring stumps into play,” Broad added.