England recall Archer after injury exile for third Test against India
Jofra Archer
Jofra Archer will make his long-awaited return to Test cricket at Lord's this week, after more than four years of injury-induced exile.
Archer was included in the England side named Wednesday for the third Test against India, returning in place of fellow fast bowler Josh Tongue in the only change to the team that suffered a 336-run thrashing by India at Edgbaston as the tourists levelled a five-match series at 1-1.
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Lord's holds happy memories for the 30-year-old Archer, who bowled the World Cup-winning 'Super Over' there in 2019 before returning later that season to make a stunning Test debut against Australia.
He floored Australia star batsman Steve Smith with a 92 mph bouncer that led to Marnus Labuschagne becoming Test cricket's first concussion substitute.
Archer has played just one County Championship match for Sussex this season, in which he bowled 18 overs and took one wicket.
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But a week of training with the England squad in Birmingham has convinced team management he is now ready to add to his tally of 13 Test caps in the match starting Thursday.
England will hope he can give their faltering attack a much-needed cutting edge, with India having scored seven hundreds in the first two Tests, with captain Shubman Gill piling up a remarkable tally of 585 runs in four innings.
Tongue drops out despite being the top wicket-taker in the series with 11, but fellow pacemen Brydon Carse and Chris Woakes have both been retained, despite toiling for a combined 9-605 across the opening two Tests.
England team for third Test against India:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith (wkt), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir
