Brendon McCullum announces Jofra Archer's participation in Lord's Test against India

England National Cricket Team head coach Brendon McCullum has all but confirmed that the star pacer Jofra Archer is set to be unleashed in the third Test against the India National Cricket Team.

The third Test match of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy between India and England is scheduled to be hosted by Lord's in London from July 10.

Jofra Archer's Test comeback on cards

Before the second Test match against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced the addition of the 30-year-old right-arm quick Jofra Archer to the Test squad.

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It was the first time that Archer had made it to the England Test squad since March 2021, with his last red-ball outing in international cricket coming way back in February 2021 during the match against India at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

Jofra Archer's constant elbow and back injuries had forced him to miss many matches and kept him totally out of the England Test setup for a few years.

However, he recently made his comeback to first-class cricket for Sussex in the County Championship against Durham, where he bowled 18 overs and picked up one wicket. Also, with the bat, he contributed 31 runs in that match.

Jofra Archer has so far represented the England National Cricket Team in 13 Test matches and has bagged 42 wickets at an average of 31.04, with the best bowling figures in the match of 8/85.

Also Read: England suffer huge blow as Captain gets ruled out of 3rd match against India

He’s fit and ready to go - Brendon McCullum

In an interaction on the BBC Test Match Special after England's embarrassing 336-run defeat, the head coach, Brendon McCullum, was asked if he had made any selection decisions for the third Test. He replied:

"No, not yet. We’ll let this one settle and when we get to HQ we’ll have a good think about it."

However, Brendon McCullum further hinted that they were looking to add 'fit and ready' Jofra Archer to the playing XI for the Lord's Test. He said:

"He’s fit and ready to go and obviously the other boys have had two Test matches on the spin now so you’d anticipate you would make a change at some stage with the line-up and Jofra is one we’ll look at."

Both of them played exceptionally well - Brendon McCullum

Although England had a nightmarish outing in the Edgbaston Test, two players who shone bright for them were Jamie Smith (184* & 88) and Harry Brook (158 & 23).

Brendon McCullum further lauded Harry Brook and Jamie Smith for playing exceptionally well in the Edgbaston Test. He stated:

"Two very simple players. They’ve got good set-ups, good techniques, and they like to hit the ball and put pressure on the opposition. It’s easy to do when you’re well in front of the game but when you’re 80-5, to still stay true to your policy and stay true to your game to give yourself the best chance shows just how mentally strong they are as well. Both of them played exceptionally well. The rest of us weren’t able to enter the game and have any real impact on it."

"We ran second for five days. I thought India played exceptionally well. Shubman Gill was at an elite level and played brilliantly on this pitch. We weren’t quite able to play how we wanted to on it and they thoroughly deserved to win," he added.

Also Read: Rishabh Pant hits historic career-high in ICC Test Rankings, sets sights on dethroning Joe Root