Archer to play first England ODI in 18 months

Fast bowler Jofra Archer will play his first one-day international since March 2023 when England face Australia at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

The 29-year-old has been carefully managed by England after elbow and back injuries in recent years.

Archer has been eased back in, playing exclusively T20 cricket since returning to the international fold before June’s T20 World Cup.

But stand-in England captain Harry Brook confirmed the Sussex pacer will play in the first ODI of the five-match series with no restrictions on his workload within the game.

“He’s obviously a world-beater, and it’ll be nice to have him alongside me and going out there and taking them on,” Brook told BBC Sport.

“I haven’t faced him much in the nets, I try and stay away from that.

“He’s our strongest seamer and he’s got a lot of experience behind him in white-ball as well. I’m looking forward to working with him and seeing him operate again.”

Injury has limited Archer to just 21 ODI appearances with only seven of those coming since he played a starring role as England won the 2019 World Cup.

With an Ashes series in Australia now 14 months away, this is a significant step up for him.

A six-over spell for Sussex’s second XI earlier this summer was the most he has bowled in a professional match this year, while he also played some club cricket in Barbados prior to the World Cup in the Caribbean.

Archer remains one of the last remaining links to the World Cup-winning squad of five years ago, with Adil Rashid the only other survivor in the 16-man group to face current world champions Australia.

Injury has ruled out captain Jos Buttler and seamer Mark Wood, while Joe Root has been rested. All of them would add to the 2019 contingent but, there is undoubtedly a fresh feel to this England squad.

A miserable defence of their 50-over title in India in 2023 felt like one tournament too many for England’s first great white-ball side and, although Test coach Brendon McCullum doesn’t begin his limited-overs duties until January, there is a sense the new era starts here.

McCullum led the revolution of the Test team, alongside Ben Stokes, and given the attacking brand of cricket played by the white-ball side when they were at their best under former captain Eoin Morgan, an overlap in the approaches is inevitable.

“I think it’s all going to merge into one at some point,” said Brook, who will lead England for the first time in this series.

“It’s all going to be played fairly similar. We’re going to have the same principles or however we want to go about playing the game, trying to put that forward to the team already before Baz takes over.

“[Interim head coach Marcus Trescothick] has been around the Test team anyway since Baz took over, he knows inside out how Baz works and how he wants the team to operate.”

For those remaining from the years under Morgan and Trevor Bayliss then, it may be more of a refresher course than a revolution.

But they are very much in the minority with Reece Topley’s 29 ODI caps the second most, after Rashid’s 135, in the England squad.

Jordan Cox and Jacob Bethell only made their international debuts in the recent T20 series and seamer John Turner is still waiting for his first cap.

This is an England squad with much to prove and with the Champions Trophy in February fast approaching, there is little by way of an adjustment period.

Much like with the Test side’s revival, though, the key message to the players is a simple one.

“We want to go out there and be entertaining, entertain the crowd, take the game on, try to take wickets and put the pressure on their bowlers,” Brook added.

Of course, putting that into practice against an experienced Australia side, who have won their last 12 ODIs, is rather less simple.

Key to that run has been leg-spinner Adam Zampa, who will play in his 100th ODI at Trent Bridge.

The 32-year-old has taken 169 ODI wickets at an average of 28, with his wickets-per-match ratio of 1.7 better than that of Shane Warne (1.5).

“He’s certainly tracking towards being one of our greatest ever ODI players,” said Mitch Marsh, who will captain Australia in Pat Cummins’ absence.

“I feel very lucky to have him in this team. There is no hiding behind the fact that he’s one of our go-to men with the ball over a 50-over period.

“That’s one of the challenges that he’s taken in his stride, being that person for us, and he thrives in the bigger moments, which is what all great players do.”

Harry Brook (captain), Jofra Archer, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Potts, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Jamie Smith, Olly Stone, Reece Topley, John Turner.  – bbc.com