McCullum backs Archer for massive Ashes impact while declaring team for the first Ashes test at Perth undecided.
‘Unbelievable’ Archer primed for Ashes impact, says McCullum.
Brendon McCullum called the forthcoming Ashes tour “the biggest series of all of our lives” and predicted that Jofra Archer would be a “huge player” for England in Australia this winter. Following his first hundred on Sunday, England’s coach also said that Jacob Bethell still has time to push his way into their lineup for the first Test match in Perth.
With a new-ball spell of 4 for 10 in seven overs at Southampton, Archer laid the stage for England’s world-record crushing of South Africa. He returned to Test cricket in July, collecting nine wickets in two games against India. McCullum claimed that his injury-free summer validated England’s cautious strategy.
“That was an unbelievable spell,” McCullum said. “It was box-office bowling…[It’s] not just his pace, but his skill, his ability to shift it both ways and to test batters with the steep bounce he gets. He’s a proper cricketer, hence why we’ve taken our time with him to make sure that we give him every chance to be in the biggest series of all of our lives.
“It’s always a delicate balance. Sometimes you need to keep bowling and you need to keep ticking over. I think a lot of injuries happen when you almost down the tools completely, not that I really understand how that works. But we’ve just got to make sure we work to the plan.
“We’ve had a good plan with Jof over the last little while and he’s rewarded us for the type of planning that we’ve had with performances like tonight. He’s going to be a huge player when we get to Australia, as a number of others are. But I don’t think we’ll wrap him up [in cotton wool] per se. We’ll just keep working with him on how he’s going and work out what’s best for him.”
After hitting 58 at Lord’s and 110 off 82 balls in Southampton, Bethell was in outstanding form against South Africa and might still put pressure on existing No. 3 Ollie Pope before the first Test match in Perth in November. Bethell is probably going to fly to Australia as England’s spare batter. According to McCullum, he hasn’t decided on a team yet for the first game of the series.
“We will work that out when we get to Australia,” he said. “We’ve got a few other fish to fry before we get there. We’ve said about Jacob since we introduced him that he’s got a huge future in front of him. He’s very quickly taken to international cricket, and things have come really quickly for him as well.
“He’s going to have some life: 21 years of age, and being able to play like he does… I want to celebrate the fact that his first ever professional hundred has been scored in the England jumper at the age of 21. I think [David] Gower’s the only other one [to score an ODI hundred for England at 21], and he was a pretty good player. We’ll see where Jacob ends up.”