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Jofra Archer versus Steve Smith in 2019 is already Ashes folklore. The atmosphere at Lord’s that afternoon was charged in all senses, a huge slab of cloud bringing darkness to the day. Fresh off a match-winning World Cup final, Archer marked his Test debut with what was then the fastest spell recorded for England. Smith was in the middle of a Bradman-hued streak of 774 runs in seven innings. All that could pause him was a short-pitched attack of building ferocity, one that finally dropped Smith with a bouncer to the neck. It was a pure duel, the kind that cause spectators genuine fear.
In the immediate aftermath, and again as Archer took six-fers in wins at Headingley and the Oval, one principal idea came up in every discussion: imagine, what might he be able to do in Australia? Imagine him on a fast and bouncy track in Perth or Brisbane. It was: “I can’t wait to get you to the Gabba,” but born of admiration rather than antagonism. The show, we all imagined, might be a spectacle.
That took six and a half years, but Archer got to Perth a fortnight ago. His opening burst lived up to expectation, removing both openers for 11 runs, before being ambushed in the second innings like the rest of his team. Now in Brisbane, here he was again: tricky conditions, a night session, pink ball, floodlights – and Smith in his sights.
As long as Smith keeps playing, he remains the centre of Ashes contests, even more for opposing supporters than his own. As he walked out at the Gabba on the second afternoon, the English in the stands rose to jeer him. Australians rose in response to urge him on. Support drowned out disparagement. Loved or loathed, when Smith bats, eyes focus on the game. When Smith faces Archer, people really sit up and pay attention.
Smith would deny that this is the central contest. With a degree of saltiness from a man whose flavour profile is more dry white toast than four fried chickens and a Coke, he has repeated the point over the years that Archer never took his wicket that day at Lord’s. Knocked out, not got out, and Smith won’t concede that as a defeat. For anyone engineering a Mandela effect in which that concussion prompted his batting decline over the following years, remember that his first knock after the knockout was a double ton. Archer played that game too. In fact, he is now in his fifth Test against Smith and has still never got him out, a personal worst for the bowler.
But still, stats and energy are often divergent, and the energy says that Archer to Smith is box office. So does Archer’s inclination. Having just dismissed Jake Weatherald, his first ball to Smith on Friday was in daylight, in the second session, and the bouncer pinged down at 146km (90.7mph) an hour – an absurd figure given that the speed gun tends to clock short balls as slower. Smith got out of the way.
Stuck with a difficult decision, Ben Stokes kept Archer going to break the batting-axis partnership. But with Marnus Labuschagne soaking up much of it, the seven-over spell came at a cost. With Archer having started right after the first break at 4.40pm, he bowled through the heat of daylight and was cooked by the onset of dusk. Through the same period the previous day, Australia had conceded an hour of England having a sense of control, in exchange for holding back the left-arm menace Mitchell Starc. Unleashed half an hour before sunset at 6.02pm, he began a dusk demolition with some help from Harry Brook. In the same conducive conditions a day later, England’s main weapon had an empty tank.
By the time Archer could return, it was after the second break, under dark skies, with his bowling speeds in the 130s rather than scaling the 140s. He still gave it his best shot, smacking Smith on the gloves, testing him with short balls, but the batter kept finding a response, edging a hook for four, uppercutting a bouncer for six, steering away through gully to the rope again. For all of his efforts, Archer couldn’t get through, and later he must have felt a contradictory relief and resentment to see Smith’s wicket given away to the battered Brydon Carse.
Since that day back in 2019, the duel has been better in the imagination. Smith’s two blackened eyes in this Test have been of his own choosing. The glare has not unsettled him, and he has continued taking on the contest. On Friday, Archer danced, Archer swung, Archer bruised the other guy’s knuckles, but Archer never landed a telling blow of his own.
