Former Australian captain Steve Waugh lavished praise on fiery English bowler Jofra Archer for the way he intimidates the oppositions with his deceptive pace and a wicked bouncer.
He further claimed that England has a real asset in the attacking Jofra who has the incredible “X-factor” to unsettle any batsman with his menacing furious deliveries.
The English speedster has been all over the internet after his scary bouncer hit Steve Smith followed by Marnus Labuschagne in the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, which ended in a draw here.
Waugh recently told a Cricket Australia podcast, “It gives you the X-factor, knowing that you have that sort of bowler in your lineup when you can intimidate the opposition. You can make things happen on a flat pitch and potentially get wickets in clumps. He’s a real asset to England.”
Having claimed 5-91 in 44 overs at Lord’s, the Barbados-born 24-year-old had an impressive Ashes debut and Waugh believes that the hosts should play him in the remaining three Tests of the ongoing high-voltage Ashes series to test his stamina out in red-ball cricket.
The Aussie continued, “If he plays four test matches in a row that will test him out. So far, he’s come through with flying colours. (He bowled) 40 overs and each one was as quick as the previous one. He had an impressive debut but test cricket is about longevity and how you back up and how you handle conditions. But from England’s point of view, so far so good.”
Having already faced some of the fastest bowlers in the world like Malcolm Marshall and Shoaib Akhtar in his career while scoring over 10,000 Test runs, Waugh felt Archer had one of the more economical bowling actions he had seen and suggested Australia to analyze that to play him in the ongoing Ashes 2019.
He explained, “I can’t say I have ever seen anyone bowl like that. He ambles in, gets very close to the crease, makes the most of his height. He has got a very simple action and in a lot of ways a similar action to (Australian fast bowler) Glenn McGrath in that it’s very repeatable. I can’t see too much going wrong with it. His control is very good for that reason. He has that deceptive pace and has a wicked bouncer so that is something our team will have to analyze and work out to play him.”
The Aussie also claimed that the Ashes 2019 will be decided by the big moments in the Test series with the way Australia managed to win the first Test by 251 runs, and then England fought back in the second Test at Lord’s.
Waugh signed off by saying, “It really depends on who wins the big moments. It will come down to who is consistent. I think we can win the series and England will probably say they think they can. It will make for a great last three test matches.”
(With Reuters Inputs)
