{"id":498628,"date":"2026-06-27T19:31:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T19:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/498628\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T19:31:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T19:31:13","slug":"jofra-archer-delivers-a-reminder-of-his-brilliance-but-new-zealand-progress-on-deteriorating-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/498628\/","title":{"rendered":"Jofra Archer delivers a reminder of his brilliance but New Zealand progress on deteriorating pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Athletic\u00a0has launched a Cricket WhatsApp Channel. Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0to join.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The ball from Jofra Archer leapt up from just short of a length, at only 80 miles per hour, and struck a sickening blow into the grille of Devon Conway\u2019s helmet.<\/p>\n

It was a brutal example of why Archer remains such an important bowler for England and evidence, if any were needed, of the dramatic change to the Trent Bridge pitch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Devon Conway is struck by a rising Jofra Archer delivery (David Rogers\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

As Mark Butcher mused on Sky: \u201cThe heat does weird things in England. The trains are not running properly, the roads melt, and cricket pitches start to do all sorts.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was certainly doing all sorts on the third day of the final Test after extreme temperatures dried the surface out prematurely and created cracks for fast bowlers to exploit.<\/p>\n

None more so than Archer, who showed, in a testing opening spell at the start of the New Zealand second innings, why he has been so well looked after by England even though he has never quite lived up to his early Test promise.<\/p>\n

The Athletic has live coverage of England vs. Panama<\/a>\u00a0at the 2026\u00a0FIFA World Cup<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

England needed a good start after New Zealand had bowled them out for 354, a deficit of 84, with an attack lacking Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and the concussed Blair Tickner.<\/p>\n

Archer provided it in the first over when his sixth delivery thudded into the pads of New Zealand captain Tom Latham, who made 151 in the first innings, and he set off on what became known as a \u2018celeb-appeal\u2019 when Stuart Broad was on a roll for England.<\/p>\n

So convinced was Archer that Latham was out, he raced away in celebration without appealing to Rod Tucker, only turning around when the Australian umpire took his time, understandably, before raising his finger. The question does need to be asked.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Jofra Archer celebrates taking the wicket of New Zealand captain Tom Latham (Gareth Copley\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Archer was soon hitting and then dismissing Conway, Latham\u2019s partner in an opening stand of 317 first time round<\/a>, who needed eight minutes of treatment after the blow to his head and then almost backed away before edging the fast bowler to Joe Root at slip.<\/p>\n

If Archer could have made further inroads, a compelling Test would have taken another twist. But England are taking no risks with his fitness, and he was withdrawn by captain Ben Stokes after five overs full of pace and menace.<\/p>\n

It was perhaps understandable with such a prize asset but it also sums up why the Barbados-born bowler with an English father has frustrated as much as impressed, in Test cricket at least, ever since he announced himself on the biggest stage so thrillingly in 2019.<\/p>\n

It was then that Archer followed up his \u2018super over\u2019 success in the World Cup final against New Zealand by bowling with extreme pace and skill in the Ashes, striking Steve Smith a sickening blow on the head during a battle for the ages at Lord\u2019s, and ending up with 22 wickets at 20.27 apiece in four Tests.<\/p>\n

A star was very much born but Archer ran into serious injury problems after being over-worked by then England captain Joe Root in New Zealand the following winter, bowling a monumental 42 overs in an innings in the first Test in Mount Maunganui.<\/p>\n

It did look as though a lengthy elbow problem in particular would force Archer to concentrate solely on white-ball cricket but, to his credit, he has forced his way back even though he has only played in 20 of England\u2019s 85 Tests since his debut series. And seen his average creep above 30 per wicket.<\/p>\n

That has not stopped the ECB backing him with a central contract believed to be worth \u00a3800,000-a-year and allowing him to stay at the Indian Premier League when England supporters would have preferred him to be playing in the first Test of this series.<\/p>\n

Since Archer\u2019s belated return, he has been eased back in the last two Tests and was not bowled at all in a madcap opening hour of the second day of the second Test by Root, back captaining England in the absence of Stokes, after a punishing eight-over spell on the first day at the Oval. It turned out to be the hour when the Test was all but won by New Zealand and lost by England.<\/p>\n

Archer remains crucial to England in all formats and will play against India in the five-match T20 series that follows this Test, but, at 31, he is running out of time to fulfil that immense Test potential. And that is a great shame for devotees of the longest form.<\/p>\n

His excellence was emphasised after his withdrawal on Saturday as England struggled to take further wickets other than the departure of Henry Nicholls to Gus Atkinson and New Zealand, at 120-3 with a lead of 204, are favourites now to win this Test and the series.<\/p>\n

Archer did return for two further late overs, but by then Rachin Ravindra and Daryl Mitchell were well settled and they remain together with an unbroken stand of 69.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Rachin Ravindra finished the day unbeaten on 60 (Darren Staples \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

It really would be a tremendous achievement for New Zealand, particularly as they went into this deciding Test without so many key players and then suffered a further blow when Tickner was ruled out of the game after being struck himself on the head by Archer.<\/p>\n

That left them seriously short of fast-bowling options other than the excellent Will O\u2019Rourke and Nathan Smith but their depth and resourcefulness were emphasised by the introduction of Zak Foulkes as the first concussion substitute used in a Test by New Zealand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very unfortunate for Blair,\u201d said Foulkes of his unexpected introduction to the Test at Tickner\u2019s expense. \u201cIt was a strange process. It took a while as the doctor had to do his tests to make sure it was concussion. Then there was paperwork to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs 12th man, you still go through your training and I was in the gym when the call came. Then you just have to try to switch on and be part of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to say those balls (which took wickets) hit cracks, which is a good sign with us bowling last. We just had to probe away and we knew the odd ball would do something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foulkes, with Jacob Duffy missing from this series on paternity leave, was effectively New Zealand\u2019s seventh choice seamer, but he took advantage of that lavish seam movement from this third day pitch to take three for 35 after being named as Tickner\u2019s replacement.<\/p>\n

All three wickets came with the outstanding New Zealand wicketkeeper Tom Blundell standing up to the stumps to the late-70s-to-early-80s mile per hour pace of Foulkes in his sixth Test, a tactic that is causing increasing problems for England\u2019s batters.<\/p>\n

It is a ploy that was first introduced by Blundell and New Zealand against England in Wellington in 2023, and it was used to great effect by Australia in the form of Alex Carey standing up to Michael Neser and Scott Boland during last winter\u2019s Ashes.<\/p>\n

Now England, in particular Root and Harry Brook, have been stifled by the presence of Blundell just behind them, and both fell again on the third day with the keeper standing up.<\/p>\n

England coach Brendon McCullum was asked about the tactic, which has stopped England\u2019s batters from taking their guard outside the crease through fear of being stumped and has curtailed their expansive game, before the Test and said he had a plan to combat it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been talking about this for a while because it\u2019s clearly a tactic that has worked well against us,\u201d said McCullum. \u201cThe keepers that have come up to the stumps against us have executed it beautifully, and it\u2019s adjusted how we want to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur conversations are based on what other methods we can use to combat it but I\u2019m not going to go into the nuances because I don\u2019t want to give away any tactics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever the tactics were \u2014 and they were not obvious \u2014 they did not work on Saturday, and as a consequence England will need to take wickets very quickly on Sunday if they are to have any chance of a Bazball-style chase on a deteriorating surface.<\/p>\n

Unless they do, New Zealand will close in on only their fourth Test series win in England and the England hierarchy will again be facing serious questions over their futures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Athletic\u00a0has launched a Cricket WhatsApp Channel. Click\u00a0here\u00a0to join.\u00a0 The ball from Jofra Archer leapt up from just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498629,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16558,102597,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-498628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-cricket","tag-global-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498628\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}