But that day Archer was flying home from Mumbai, where he had tried to step up his recovery from a back stress fracture and elbow problems by bowling in the nets only to suffer pain again. He was badly missed as toothless England were taken apart by Heinrich Klaasen’s 61-ball century, Buttler at a loss to stem the runs. If only he had had Archer to call on to throw in the mix like has has now.
Archer bowled the best over by England at this World Cup in St Lucia on Wednesday night in the victory over West Indies. The pivotal 16th belonged to him as he snuffed out the threat of a West Indies march in the final five overs. With Nicholas Pooran, who made 98 just 48 hours earlier, ready to launch on 32 from 27 and Liam Livingstone conceding 20 in the previous over, West Indies were ready to motor on 137 for two after a sticky start.
But Pooran never laid a bat on Archer. He played and missed at three, cut an unconvincing four off another, and nicked the last to Buttler. Archer’s pace ranged from 65mph to 93mph, his skills with cutters, back-of-the-hand slower balls and lethal speed the absolute trump card for Buttler to play at awkward moments. A crushed West Indies made only 43 in the final five overs. “I was just glad I executed, it was everything that we talked about in the bowling meetings – that’s one of the times you nail it, execution was almost perfect. If Woody had dived, he might have caught that one as well. I’m really glad that over was probably the turning point,” said Archer.
Archer finished with one for 34 on a pitch with little margin of error. He was the only pace bowler all night to complete his allocation and is England’s leading bowler at the World Cup with six wickets at 16 and an economy rate of a run a ball.
He is truly world class and so much rests on him staying pain-free and successfully following a phased return to Test cricket that England hope will see him ready for the series against India at home next summer.
Twenty20 is how Archer made his name and can bowl in any phase because he can, in effect, deliver four death overs sprinkled across the innings, combined with those lethal change-ups in pace.
That 16th over deflated West Indies and kept the target below 200 on a good pitch. That allowed England to dictate the run chase, which was another clinical aspect of their performance; Jonny Bairstow and Phil Salt flicking through the gears to ensure a good run rate boost that could be crucial with rain forecast in Barbados on Sunday for the final group game against United States.