 "England pacer Jofra Archer has played a total of 13 Tests till date, collecting 42 wickets at an average of 31.04. Reuters")
There was more good news in store for England after their five-wicket victory over India at Headingley , with express pacer Jofra Archer getting added to their bowling lineup ahead of the second Test that gets underway at Edgbaston on 2 July. The 30-year-old pacer thus is set to make his first Test appearance since February 2021.
Archer, in fact, had not played any form of red-ball cricket since May 2021, three months after England’s tour of India in which they lost the series 1-3 despite winning the opening game. The Barbadian-born quick, who has 42 wickets from 13 Test appearances at an average of 31.04, had recently made his First-Class return for Sussex in their County Championship Division One match against Durham collecting 1/32 and scoring 31.
Archer’s inclusion bolsters a pace department that had faced criticism for a lacklustre display on the opening day of the first Test against India, in which the visitors had reached a dominant 359/3 at close of play thanks to centuries from Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Shubman Gill.
Skipper Ben Stokes as well as the pace trio of Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue and Chris Woakes, however, would trigger two Indian collapses in the next three days to give themselves a fighting chance of going 1-0 up in the five-match series.
England opt against making any other changes
Archer’s inclusion in the only change made to the England squad for the series opener against India in Leeds, where Ben Duckett’s sublime 149 in the second innings helped Stokes and Co chase down a challenging target of 371 , registering their second-highest chase in the Test format.
India, meanwhile, have opted to release Harshit Rana from the Test squad ahead of the second Test in Birmingham, where they will be eyeing a series-leveling victory after suffering a defeat in Leeds despite finding themselves in dominant positions at multiple points.
England squad for the second Test against India: Ben Stokes (capt), Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.