Jofra Archer: The return of the king – for whom the rules do not apply
Following a horror run of injuries which left his career in the balance, Jofra Archer is set to play in his first World Cup since 2019. Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine editor Jo Harman hails the return of an extraordinary talent for whom the normal rules don't apply. First published in: Wisden Cricket Monthly Issue #78. SPECIAL OFFER: Save 10% on a 12-month subscription with code: RADIOTIMES10 It’s a little over five years since WCM sat down with Jofra Archer for an exclusive interview at the County Ground in Hove. Three weeks after we met, the Barbados-born fast bowler would become eligible to represent England, fast-tracked after the ECB had conveniently cut their seven-year qualification period to three. It was the worst-kept secret in English cricket that Archer, then 23, would be parachuted into Eoin Morgan’s World Cup squad, but our interview was only agreed to on the condition that he wouldn’t be asked about the forthcoming tournament or the Ashes. He was polite but diffident, only really coming to life when playing with Chris Jordan’s French bulldog on the outfield or talking about the family and life he’d left behind in the Caribbean. Two months out from his England debut, he was already a global star following a breakout IPL season in 2018. In the 2019 edition, he would boast the best economy rate in the tournament while spearheading the Rajasthan Royals attack. "I’d say I’m a bit fortunate with the way that everything’s happened," he said on that bright, sunny day in Hove, his world alive with possibilities. "I guess I’m doing something right, because everything’s been going OK so far." Handed the new ball in the World Cup curtain-raiser against South Africa at The Oval, Archer was electric. In his second over he forced Hashim Amla to retire hurt after smashing him in the grille, in his fourth he found extra bounce on a slowish surface to dismiss Aiden Markram, and in his fifth he bounced out Faf du Plessis. He coolly collected figures of 3-27, seemingly unmoved by the hype which had built up around him, not all of it positive. After going wicketless in the defeat to Pakistan which followed, Archer picked up four consecutive three-fors and then produced a sublime spell in the semi-final trouncing of Australia, trapping Aaron Finch LBW with his first delivery before outfoxing Glenn Maxwell with a perfectly executed knuckle ball. Three days later, he held his nerve under unimaginable pressure to deliver the grand prize. "An unbelievable talent," said his captain after the nerve-shredder at Lord’s. It could hardly have been a more perfect start to Archer’s England career, and he showcased his skills with the red ball later that summer, producing an unforgettably ferocious spell on Test debut at Lord’s and finishing the Ashes with 22 wickets across four Tests. Since the final Test of that series, when Archer took first-innings figures of 6-60 at The Oval to be named Player of the Match, he has played 31 of a possible 183 fixtures for England across all formats, missing three World Cups in that time. Between March 2021 and June 2022, he had four operations: on his finger to remove a shard of glass following a freak fish-tank cleaning injury, on his lower back, and two on his right elbow. He wasn’t allowed to pick up a cricket ball for three months, gradually rebuilding his fitness before making a comeback in early 2023, until a recurrence of the stress fracture in his elbow sidelined him again. Before his selection for the 2024 T20 World Cup, he had bowled only 92 overs in professional cricket across the previous two years, and none since May 2023. "It’s been a while and, honestly, I don’t know if I’ve got another stop-start year in me," Archer told The Athlete’s Voice in April. "That’s the truth. I don’t know if I’ve got another one." And so it’s hardly surprising that the excitement around his return is tempered by a gnawing sense of anxiety. It would be rash to describe his latest comeback as a last chance, but how many more times will Archer, who turned 29 in April, be prepared to put his body – let alone his mind – through the ringer? Chris Jordan, who first recommended Archer to Sussex after facing him in the nets in Barbados, has felt the highs and lows as keenly as anyone. The prospect of the pair walking out together at the Kensington Oval for the World Cup final on 29th June, on the island they both still call home, is almost too perfect to imagine. "It’s a nice storyline, isn’t it," says Jordan, speaking to WCM a fortnight before England’s opener against Scotland in Bridgetown. "I can set my own personal goals, but to openly speak about it too much, I don’t think I want to do that." Jordan, who will be competing in his fifth T20 World Cup after earning a recall off the back of an impressive winter on the franchise circuit, was recently back in Barbados to see family and took the opportunity to net with Archer. "When I’m training with Jof, it’s always a good time. At the moment he seems in a really happy place. I’m as excited as everyone else [about his return] because he’s so close to me, but I’m a fan as well. I really enjoying watching him play. "It’s tough, really tough," he says of witnessing his friend’s injury travails. "Not only is he a teammate, but I do consider him family as well. So to see a family member struggle is definitely not a nice thing. "I think he will come out of it a lot stronger. I’m always a big believer that everything happens for a reason. He’s gone through the journey he’s had to go through, and for him to even be back in the frame is a really big achievement. "At different points he might have been doubting if he’d ever play again. I’m really excited for England fans, and his personal fans, to see him play again. Because he is box office, for sure." Tymal Mills, Archer’s Sussex and sometime England teammate, can empathise with the mental anguish that comes with not being able to do the thing that sets you apart. "It's rubbish," says Mills, who has a congenital back condition which hampered his early career and led to him becoming a T20 specialist. "As professional athletes, most of us have only really known one thing. It’s potentially the one thing in the world that you’re better at than most people, so when you’re injured and you have that taken away, you definitely lose a bit of identity. "Something I’ve struggled with when I’m injured is what you do with your days. You might do rehab for one or two hours in a day, then you’re rattling around a little bit. "It can be a very lonely place. It forces you to have other things going on, other avenues, passions and interests, because otherwise you can go a little bit crazy, especially when you’re missing games you should be playing in. Jofra’s obviously found it tough at times, especially being as good as he is." Mills, who may well have made the World Cup squad himself if it weren’t for Archer’s return, says it was a no-brainer to get him back in the side as soon as possible. "Having someone who can bowl in all three phases of the game in white-ball cricket is gold dust. He’s the type of player who can change matches, in any format, and someone you want to tune in for. He makes cricket a better watch." The smile said it all: one part elation to two parts relief. After conceding 15 from his first over in the T20I against Pakistan at Edgbaston in late May, his first professional match for 385 days, Archer snared Azam Khan to pick up a wicket which must have seemed out of reach during his darkest moments. Bowling consistently at 90mph, he returned later in the innings to dismiss the dangerous Imad Wasim, conceding a solitary boundary from his final three overs to return figures of 4-0-28-2. "Jofra Archer was brilliant," said Jos Buttler after a stirring comeback which also included a four-ball cameo of 12*. "You could see his emotion, taking wickets for England again. But we need to temper those expectations because he’s not going to be the same straight away." He’s right, of course. Given the length of time that Archer has spent on the sidelines, unsure at times whether he’ll even play again, it’s entirely unreasonable to expect him to bowl England to World Cup glory. And yet. When Archer made his brief comeback at the start of 2023, it was startling how quickly he was able to recapture his pace and rhythm. At the SA20, playing for the first time in 18 months, he collected 10 wickets in six matches before claiming career-best figures of 6-40 at Kimberley in the ODI series which followed. He then took nine wickets at 16.11 on England’s white-ball tour of Bangladesh before injury struck once again. Jordan says he’s never seen a cricketer with as much natural ability as Archer. There’s a smoothness and serenity in the way he plays the game that’s almost otherwordly; despite the horrors of the last few years, that’s never left him. When you’re as loose as Jofra, there’s no need for looseners. The normal rules don’t apply. Abridged version. For the full article, check out Wisden Cricket Monthly Issue #78. SPECIAL OFFER: Save 10% on a 12-month subscription with code: RADIOTIMES10 Subscribe and save today to enjoy Wisden Cricket Monthly on your PC, Mac, mobile or tablet device. Check out more of our Sport coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. 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The A-Z of the Cricket World Cup: Cult heroes, magic moments and the "barest of margins"
Wisden Cricket Monthly have produced an A-Z of the Cricket World Cup, celebrating the weird and wonderful, the disastrous and the magical.
To celebrate the start of the Cricket World Cup, Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief Phil Walker and magazine editor Jo Harman have produced an A-Z of all things World Cup-related in partnership with RadioTimes.com, brimming with cult heroes, memorable moments and a few entries that made the cut by the "barest of margins"... A is for… Aravinda Bow-legged and hook-nosed, 5ft-nothing in his best spikes and decked out in random bits of kit from the team bag, Aravinda de Silva exhibited a kind of dishevelled, Chaplin-esque genius through much of the '90s that, what with him being Sri Lankan, meant he was taken for granted – until one night in Lahore when the full sweep of his magics was revealed. It was 1996, and Sri Lanka had found themselves in the World Cup final, only to face, wait for it, Australia. The bad people batted first, got a few, and then kicked sand in the face of Sri Lanka’s top order. It’s 23-2 when our guy waddles out, pads round his ankles, borrowed bat in hand. This is Sri Lanka, remember; with four wins from five full tournaments before this one. Three hours later, Aravinda’s strummed the most beautiful hundred you’ve ever seen, taking them to a victory that remains to this day the most exquisite in World Cup history. B is for… Boycs & Brears White shirts, red balls, bushy sideboards, grumpy patrons: welcome to World Cups in late-'70s England. We’re back at Lord’s again, where the last vestiges of imperialism dictate that finals must be held – and Viv Richards has already swaggered to 138 not out, scooping his final ball into the Tavern to take West Indies to 286 from their 60 overs. In reply, England’s freewheeling openers, Geoffrey Boycott and Mike Brearley, come barrelling down the steps to unfurl their full repertoire of leaves, blocks, nurdles and prods across 130 time-elasticating minutes, inching the score along to 129 before Brears, clattering along at a strike rate of 49, finally gives up the ghost. Boycs follows him soon after, his 57 from 105 balls containing the grand total of three boundary fours, all of which leaves the middle order (Gooch, Gower, Botham et al) with too much to do, and England’s awful record in finals has begun: before the 2019 watershed, it would read played four, lost four. C is for… Crowe Ah, Martin Crowe, the stylist’s stylist, strands of bandana dangling down his back, a touch player so filthy that he came with an R rating. The New Zealander, cousin of Russell, was the batter of the 1992 World Cup, beginning with an immaculate ton against Australia and strolling towards another in the semi-final before a hamstring twang restricted him in the final overs. Crowe’s injury gave Pakistan’s batters a puncher’s chance, and by that stage Imran’s boys were throwing haymakers at will. New Zealand have still never won it. In retirement, Crowe turned his beautiful mind to writing on the game. D is for… Democracy (Death of) The 2003 World Cup was politically hot. Staged in Africa for the first time, the build-up played out against the worsening situation in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe. On the eve of the first match, prominent Zimbabwe players Andy Flower and Henry Olonga got together. They could no longer stand aside. On the eve of the first match, they released a statement mourning the "death of democracy" in their country. Hours later, they took to the field at Harare, a stone’s throw from Mugabe’s residence, with strips of black insulating tape wrapped around the shirts on their upper arms. "One white Zimbabwean and one black one operating together gave the message the most eloquent balance," Flower would say, breaking his silence years later. The protest, broadcast around the world, put England, who were due to face Zimbabwe in Harare, in a desperate position. Captain Nasser Hussain was recast as diplomat-negotiator, managing the British government’s entreaties to boycott the game, against the ICC’s threats to nail them if they did. At the eleventh-hour, England pulled out of the fixture, thus forfeiting the result to leave their World Cup hopes in tatters, while Flower and Olonga would flee for South Africa amid a slew of death threats. Hussain later wrote that they "proved to be great men by what they have done". E is for… Eden Gardens Indian cricket’s spiritual home in Kolkata was destroyed by their own fans at the fag-end of a disastrous semi-final against Sri Lanka in 1996. With India 120-8 chasing 252, the fans began chucking bottles onto the field and setting fires in the stands. The game had to be abandoned, with Sri Lanka handed the win by default. In the messy aftermath, the house of skipper Mohammad Azharuddin – who had been fiercely criticised for fielding first – had to be placed under armed guard. F is for… Floppy Hats No better sight in cricket than the floppy sunhat – from the sublime of Graham Gooch’s iconic white floppy in the heat of Chennai in 1987, sweeping India’s spinners to secure England a place in the final, to the ridiculous of Sultan Zarawani, UAE skipper, swaggering out to face an unbridled Allan Donald in his own grey number. A disgruntled Donald duly banged one in halfway down, and Zarawani, not known for his prowess against the short ball, ducked right into it. He emerged a little groggily to take his place in World Cup legend, cheerfully retiring after the tournament to spend more time with his fleet of expensive cars. G is for… Gavaskar The godfather of Indian cricket didn’t much fancy the World Cup, and on opening day in 1975, opted against even attempting to chase down England’s 334 in 60 overs, sitting on his bat for four agonising hours to finish 36 not out from 174 balls. No one quite knew why. Certain rumours circled that he was protesting against selection, others that he felt the team had been disrespected. Whatever the reasons, it was a grim scene. Ted Dexter, on commentary, demanded formal censure, while the India team manager GS Ramchand duly found his tongue, telling the Daily Express: "It was the most disgraceful and selfish performance I have ever seen… his excuse [to me] was, the wicket was too slow to play shots, but that was a stupid thing to say after England had scored 334. The entire party is upset about it. Our national pride is too important to be thrown away like this." Years later, Sunil Gavaskar said he couldn’t really explain it either. H is for… Haryana Hurricane AKA Kapil Dev, whose steepling catch running back from square leg to dismiss Viv Richards in the 1983 final (yep, at Lord’s again) helped take India to an improbable maiden World Cup win, transforming the game’s popularity overnight. The rest is history. I is for… Ireland "Every now and again someone wakes up and simply has the best day of their life," wrote Graeme Swann in his autobiography. "Kevin O’Brien was that guy against us." At Bangalore in 2011, no one gave Ireland a sniff after they were reduced to 111-5 in reply to England’s 327-8, but from that seemingly hopeless situation blossomed a knock for the ages – with the match all but gone, O’Brien, the beefy 26-year-old all-rounder from Dublin, decided to chance his arm. As the wheels came off for England in the field, he reached his century in just 50 balls, the fastest hundred in the tournament’s history. When O’Brien was finally dismissed for 113 in the 49th over, having scripted the highest successful run-chase in a World Cup, he’d hit 13 fours and six sixes. "I remember at one stage looking up and I was 80 off 40 balls, and I was like, 'Where did that come from?'" said O’Brien. "It was pretty surreal." For Ireland, it was another prize scalp which helped set in motion Ireland’s promotion to Full Member status in 2018. Sadly, they won’t be back in India for this one. OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99 Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15). Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer. J is for… Jayasuriya Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana, freewheelers both, changed the face of white ball batting across a few wild weeks in 1996. Striking at 131 and 140 respectively, they marmalised new-ball attacks in the opening overs en route to Sri Lanka’s spectacular triumph in the final. Jayasuriya was the main man, making 221 runs in the tournament, including a superb 82 (44) in the quarter-final against poor old England, whose cohort of honest medium-pacers wasn’t quite the thing on a flat one at Faisalabad. K is for… Kenya The Simbas have made five appearances at the World Cup, making their mark at their debut tournament in 1996 when they turned over a star-studded West Indies side at Pune. But it’s their exploits in the 2003 edition, when they served as co-hosts with South Africa and Zimbabwe, for which they’re best remembered, defeating Canada, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe during their fairy tale run to the semi-finals – the only time in the tournament’s history that a non-Test nation has reached the last four. There’s been little for the Kenyans to cheer since, though. In 2004, their talisman Maurice Odumbe was banned for match-fixing and disputes between the national board and senior players led to an alarming decline, with Kenya losing their ODI status in 2014 and failing to qualify for the World Cup the following year. At the time of writing, they are ranked 29th in the ICC’s T20I rankings, below Jersey, Kuwait and Bahrain. L is for… Lloyd A two-time World Cup-winning captain, Clive Lloyd masterminded West Indies’ triumphant campaign at the inaugural tournament in 1975, hitting a majestic 102 from 85 balls at Lord’s – his first and only ODI century – to lay the foundations for a 17-run win over Australia. Four years later, 'Supercat' led from the front once again, averaging 61.50 across the tournament to make it two in two for the Windies, humbling England in the final. One of the game’s great captains, he turned the previously disjointed Caribbean islands into a cohesive, world-conquering force. M is for… Margins (the barest of) The greatest finish to the greatest game, capped by the greatest piece of off-the-cuff commentary. Ian Smith used to keep wicket for New Zealand before taking tup the mic, and it was his fate to be there at the most heart-breaking sporting moment in their history. Jason Roy has gathered and arrowed a throw on the bounce to Jos Buttler, who breaks the stumps with Martin Guptill, sprawling, two yards short. Up in the Lord’s media centre, bent double over the desk, Smith finds the perfect words for the maddest time. "England have won the World Cup by the barest of margins." Eleven unimprovable words, as indelible as the moment itself, delivered by the undisputed commentator of the tournament. "The two Ians – Smith and Bishop – should be made to commentate on the last half hour of every cricket match," Nasser Hussain later tweeted. N is for… Netherlands Bas de Leede knew what was needed, and what was at stake. Chase down Scotland’s 277 inside 44 overs at Bulawayo, and his country would be at their fourth World Cup. He’d already shot out five Scottish batters with his seamers; now he proceeded to play one of the most gutsy ODI knocks of the century. His 123 from 92 balls nailed the chase, booked the Netherlands a place at the big show and made him just the fourth player in ODI history to take a five-for and hit a century in the same game. You may not have seen much of Bas yet. You will do soon. O is for… Over (as in All Over The World) Dave Stewart used to be one half of Eurythmics. By 1999, he’d settled into the paunchy middle years, his best work behind him, when cricket came a calling. His brief? To pen a rousing anthem for the World Cup in England, capturing all the colour and vibrancy of this most beautiful of games. So Dave got to work. Cricketers wear white, right? (Not in this tournament, but no matter.) And who else wears white? Why, the inmates in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest! Thus, a plan was hatched to stage the video in, well, an asylum, and for Dave, naturally enough, to break the inmates free. He then drives them all – plus a single, random woman that Dave has seized from her front garden – to an abandoned rec somewhere for a chilly, overcast game of bat and ball. "The sun is up," sings Dave plaintively over a strangely muted carnival chant. "The sky is red. No grey clouds inside your head. Heroes come and heroes go. A wise man watched the river flow." The message is a little confused. As indeed was the timing of its release: England were already knocked out of the tournament by the time it hit the shops. Copies remained unsold. P is for… Pyjamas The '92 World Cup hit different. There wasn’t much that this one didn’t have going for it. Most of the matches were in Australia, the spiritual soul of ODI cricket since Kerry Packer’s late-'70s revolution, with the rest in New Zealand. It had pinch hitters, spinners opening the bowling and fielding from another planet. It had leg-spinners altering the course of big matches, and reverse-swing clinching them. It had two white balls, one at each end, for fast bowlers to wreak havoc with. It had South Africa’s readmission after 22 years in the sporting wilderness, expanding the show to incorporate a ninth team, and it would all end in Melbourne: in a night-time coalescence between Pakistan and England, beamed around the world for the very first time. In just about every conceivable way, this was a portal into cricket’s future, and nowhere was it more obvious than the attire: the whole thing was a riot of black screens, white balls and garishly coloured pyjamas. The shirts, regularly reprised as retro kits, are truly iconic. Q is for… Qualifiers If you want real jeopardy, don’t watch the World Cup – watch the qualifiers. This year’s stress-fest took place in Zimbabwe across two weeks of unending drama, after which the Netherlands and Sri Lanka emerged as the only two teams to make it to the showpiece. Left on the canvas, diminished as never before, were the cricketers of the West Indies, once the most dominant team in the game, now reduced to bit part actors on the other stage. Ditto Scotland and Ireland, both of whom missed out on final qualification. R is for… Rain Rules The shot itself was coolly played: in the midst of a tropical downpour, South Africa’s Mark Boucher, believing his team to be ahead of the rain-adjusted required score, rolled his wrists on a Murali off-break, smothering the spin, no dramas at all. Only in the moments after the shot did the reality reveal itself that South Africa actually still needed one more run; as it was, they were merely tying with Sri Lanka – and a tie would see them dumped out of their own tournament. The umpires scampered off seconds after Boucher’s desperate miscalculation, and with the rain setting in, they never got back on - South Africa were out of their own event before the knockout stage. And all this after the shocker in 1992, when an 11-minute break for a shower combined with a terribly thought-out rain rule to reduce South Africa’s target against England in the semi-final from 22 from 13 balls to 21 from one. Though blameless in 1992, the 2003 error was all on them. S is for… Shoulders In the exultant scenes following India’s second world title in 2011, the great Mumbaikar Sachin Tendulkar was hoisted onto the shoulders of his teammates one last time. One of the players beneath him was Virat Kohli, a young pup making his way in the game, with an eye for a soundbite as sharp as his back-foot punch. "Sachin Tendulkar has carried the burden of the nation for 21 years," he told the cameras. "It is time we carried him on our shoulders." In that moment, the torch was passed, and a thousand endorsement contracts drawn up. T is for… Tigers (Cornered) Pakistan’s triumph in 1992 was intrinsically Imran Khan’s. He was old by cricketing standards, pushing 40. He had run the show with as near as anyone got to complete autonomy in Pakistan cricket and achieved, in the words of his biographer Christopher Sandford, something akin to a sporting miracle, "transforming the perennial cabaret turn of the international circuit into the hyper-aggressive fighting unit that would lift the World Cup". The turning point had come against Australia, in a must-win game following a sluggish first few matches. Imran emerged for the toss in a T-shirt bearing an image of a tiger about to pounce. Play like this, he had told his team, pointing to his chest, and Pakistan would win the tournament. Two weeks later, his prophesy would come to fruition. U is for… Upsets In 2007, when Bangladesh beat India to knock them out, the financial consequences of India’s early exit were so dire that the powers-that-be sought to change the format to protect cricket’s one true megapower from being caught short again. Upsets may not be good for business, but they remain the most tantalising part of a world tournament. Ever since a data systems manager called Duncan Fletcher masterminded Zimbabwe’s defeat of Australia in 1983, the game has thrived off its giant-killings. This year, Afghanistan and the Netherlands lurk in the shadows, ready to pounce. V is for… Veletta Mike Veletta, anyone? No? Unmasked revolutionary blowing up the establishment at Eden Gardens? His 31-ball 45* in Australia’s innings in the '87 final, helping them up to 253, must go down as one of the great World Cup cameos. In reply, England fell seven runs short – Mike Gatting’s wonderfully awful reverse sweep to spark the collapse will never be forgotten – and though Micky V didn’t do much else after that, he could always say that he lit the fuse on Australia’s World Cup story. W is for… Woolmer An innovative all-rounder in a playing career which included 19 Tests and six ODIs for England, Bob Woolmer went on to become a groundbreaking coach for Warwickshire, South Africa and Pakistan. A progressive thinker who championed the reverse sweep and the use of computer analysis, his South African side came agonisingly close to reaching the final of the 1999 World Cup, losing out to Australia in a dramatic semi-final at Edgbaston, after which Woolmer resigned from his post. He returned to international cricket with Pakistan in 2004, serving as their head coach at the 2007 World Cup, but tragedy struck on 18th March, the day after his team had been knocked out of the tournament following a shock defeat to Ireland, when Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room at the Pegasus Hotel in Jamaica. Jamaican police opened a murder investigation after a pathologist’s report claimed the 58-year-old had died of asphyxia via manual strangulation, but it was later found he had been suffering from health problems and had died of natural causes. "As a coach and mentor, Bob Woolmer had everything," said Mohammad Yousuf, who played under Woolmer for Pakistan, speaking on the 15th anniversary of his death. "He was a top motivator and would always back his players. He was a great guy and a great coach. Bob Woolmer will remain the No.1 coach in the world." X is for… X Ten teams. Ten. Not that many, is it? Not especially worldly. There used to be more, but the suits put paid to that. After all, fewer teams means less chance of an upset, right? And the big teams staying around for longer means more of that lovely advertising revenue. One of the few consolations of that politically limp decision is, at least, clarity of format: this time everyone plays everyone, and then it’s your semis, before the final on 19th November, to be held at that 130,000-seater stadium in Ahmedabad, the one named after India’s current prime minister – a figure, incidentally, you are likely to see quite a lot of over the next two months. At least in four years’ time we’ll be back up to the dizzying heights of 14 teams. Y is for… Yellow Five times, the Aussies have won it. That’s three times more than anyone else. Three times in a row from 1999 to 2007, with the other two basically won by accident. They go into this one with multiple injuries, one good spinner (Adam Zampa, who’s just equalled the record for the most runs conceded in an ODI) and a messy top order. They’ll probably win it. Z is for… Zulu The 1999 World Cup was a peculiar tournament. South Africa and Australia were easily the best teams, and in the vast hulking form of Lance Klusener – 'Zulu' to his mates – the Proteas had their trump card. Across a chilly month in early summer, Klusener singlehandedly patented the barrelling finisher role in ODI cricket, smashing 250 runs from 214 balls with five not outs to propel South Africa into a showdown against the Aussies at Edgbaston. The semi-final is pure folklore. Australia looked to have the game sewn up before Klusener battered the seamers for 31 from his first 15 balls to bring the scores level. With four balls remaining, he skewed a drive past Damien Fleming and set off for the winning run only to find his partner Allan Donald rooted to the spot. Klusener was almost level with Donald at the non-striker’s end by the time Donald set off. Adam Gilchrist completed the run out – via a relay throw involving Mark Waugh and Fleming – to secure a tie, and Australia sailed into the final by virtue of their superior net run rate. "I could have maybe been a little more patient," Klusener later said. "But hindsight is a brilliant science." OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99 Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15). Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer. If you're looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide or Streaming Guide, or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news. 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The best (and worst) Ashes cameo appearances in history
The Wisden Cricket Monthly team round up some of the greatest (and most infamous) cameos in Ashes history.
Amid Moeen Ali's late nod for the Ashes squad – and his own injury issues leading to the call-up of 18-year-old Rehan Ahmed – the Wisden Cricket Monthly team, featuring Jo Harman, Phil Walker and James Wallace, have rounded up some of the finest Ashes cameos in history. It’s not always about the headliners in Test cricket’s most celebrated jamboree. Here we pick out a selection of the bit parts and support acts who have made their presence felt, in one way or another, in Ashes series'. The Dukes of Edgbaston Reverse swing was fundamental to England’s 2005 win, but it was the ball which did nothing at all that changed the course of the series. Glenn McGrath had no answer to the most innocuous of deliveries on the first morning of the Edgbaston Test, collapsing in a crumpled heap and rupturing ligaments in his right ankle after standing on a stray cricket ball in the warm-up. Having been unplayable at Lord’s, the curse was suddenly broken. McGrath was sidelined for two Tests and averaged 36 for the remainder of the series. JH England’s 12th man Here in England, in the backyard of Bubbles, Eddie the Eagle and Liz Truss, it’s perfectly natural to leaven our own inadequacies by elevating the plucky no-hoper. While it’s much harder to picture those Type A beefcakes in the other room doing the same, here in England the limby sub in the baggy shirt is our guy: we all like to think we’re Gary Pratt, swooping in from obscurity to run out the great Ponting; failing that, we’ll definitely have some of Bilal Shafayat standing mid-pitch in a yellow bib, sifting through chestfuls of batting gloves, soaking up time and volleys of abuse. Most likely, of course, we’re Stephen Peters, lurking with intent with minutes to go, gathering cleanly, aiming and firing, and missing altogether. PW Ashton’s big day out A curveball selection for the series opener in 2013, Ashton Agar had made only a handful of first-class appearances when he was parachuted in for his Test debut at Trent Bridge and the 19-year-old spinner etched his name in Ashes history with an innings of brazen brilliance. Arriving at the crease with Australia struggling on 117-9, Agar dominated a 163-run stand with Phillip Hughes, eventually being dismissed for 98 – still the highest score by a No.11 in Test cricket – after smoking 14 sumptuous boundaries. “Was I kicking myself when I got out? Not really, I was absolutely delighted,” he said. But the joy was short-lived: Agar was dropped one Test later and hasn’t played in the Ashes since. JH Richard Ellison in ’85 He of the Magnum moustache and Brookside perm, stealing the ’85 Ashes with a four-wicket spell of late-swinging Englishness in the evening sunshine at Birmingham that saw him clean-bowl Allan Border with a beautiful break back for his 10th wicket in the game. He only played five more Tests, and was done with cricket by 33, but that corner of Edgbaston, and Border’s off-bail, would always be his. PW Fireman Sam The chaos that surrounded England’s 2021/22 Ashes omnishambles was perhaps best demonstrated by Sam Billings’s 820km drive from the Gold Coast to Sydney in the dying embers of a truly miserable tour. With Buttler and Bairstow unable to keep wicket, an SOS was sent to the Kent stumper shortly before he boarded a flight back to the UK following a stint in the Big Bash. He dutifully answered the call, the only snag being he couldn’t risk a flight because of the rising number of Covid cases and instead embarked on a 12-hour journey by car. After a spell in quarantine and rigorous testing Billings eventually received his Test cap at Hobart, where England succumbed inside three days and slumped to a 4-0 defeat. JH The lonesome death of Simon Kerrigan The Oval has witnessed a few sporting deaths and Simon Kerrigan’s in 2013 is right up there; a sweaty, scarring fever-dream of a debut, Kerrigan naked and tiny in a foreign field, gripping a strange orb with clammy palms as far off in the distance Shane Watson grows more multitudinous, the nightmarish yips made flesh on the grandest of stages. A Test career came and went in the totality of 48 balls, from which 53 runs were pilfered; it’s testament to Kerrigan’s resilience that he was still taking first-class wickets last summer. PW Colly stops the wobbles England’s 2005 triumph was built around Michael Vaughan’s determination to meet fire with fire but when it came down to the decider at The Oval, with the hosts needing only a draw to secure their first Ashes win for 18 years, the skipper went safety-first, drafting in an extra batter for the injured Simon Jones. Paul Collingwood faced 77 deliveries and scored a grand total of 17 runs, merrily scooping up an MBE as Shane Warne labelled his accolade an “embarrassment”. JH Broad’s copy of the Brisbane Courier-Mail When a psychological study was done of each member of England’s Ashes squad ahead of the 2013/14 series, Stuart Broad was one of only three players fitting the profile of someone who would thrive in the cauldron of Australian ultra-violence. Already despised across large swathes of the land for his nick-it-to-first-slip-and-shrug in the previous series – later estimated to be the first person in Ashes history to stand his ground after he’s edged it – Broad was delighted to find himself de-platformed by Brisbane’s ever-balanced Courier-Mail newspaper. And so, when ‘the English medium pacer’ took a five-bag on the first morning of the series, he swaggered into that evening’s press conference brandishing a copy of the issue, with its iconic front page featuring a STOP sign slapped across Broad’s beamingly smug visage. He’s been riling them up forever, even going so far as to declare the last series void. Never lose it, Stu. PW The wrong Taylor Australian cricket was in need of some sparkle after the hosts were thrashed by an innings in the Boxing Day Test of 1986, losing the series in the process. And so, when the selectors turned to Peter Taylor, a 30-year-old spinner struggling to find a place in the New South Wales side, it led journalists to speculate they’d dialled the wrong number and had intended to call up his namesake and NSW teammate, Mark. Given that Peter had made just six first-class appearances, the bemusement was understandable, but his selection proved a minor masterstroke. He took eight wickets on debut at Sydney and made a crucial 42 in Australia’s second innings to claim the Player of the Match award in a morale-boosting win. The ‘wrong Taylor’ went on to have a solid international career, playing 13 Tests and 83 ODIs before being usurped by Shane Warne. JH Hollies’ only Ashes Test “And Hollies pitches the ball up slowly and... he’s bowled. Bradman. Bowled. Hollies. Nought.” John Arlott there, struck dumb by the consequences of Eric Hollies’s speculative googly. The pint-sized wrist spinner, 36 at the time, would never play another Ashes Test. Didn’t need to. Bradman bowed to no man, except little Eric Hollies. PW The freaker At 3.15pm on Monday August 4th 1975, Lord’s was basking in 33-degree-heat on the fourth day of the second Ashes Test. With the game heading for a draw, the soporific afternoon session was given a jumpstart of sorts by one Michael Angelow. The 24-year-old had imbibed plenty of ale by mid-afternoon and duly accepted a bet from his surrounding (Australian) supporters. He slid free from his garments and sprinted onto the pitch in just his socks and trainers. Hurtling past a good length (ahem) he headed for the stumps, which he duly hurdled with aplomb... plums clacking over the bails like Newton’s pendulum. The moment was captured on camera and called by John Arlott in the commentary box, who, caught up in the excitement, forgot the word ‘streaker’. “We’ve got a freaker! Not very shapely and it’s masculine...” The bet was for £20 – the exact amount that Angelow was charged by the magistrate for his misdemeanour. JW X-man misses the spot “I don’t think I’m going to take 800 wickets in Test cricket,” conceded Xavier Doherty after he was called up for the 2010/11 Ashes, “but I hope to make some impact.” His first-class bowling average – 48 at the time – backed up his suggestion that he probably wasn’t the next Warne, but the Aussies hoped the fact that he bowled spin with his left-arm would be enough to nullify Kevin Pietersen. It quickly became clear, though, that the ‘X-Man’ possessed no superhuman abilities, the Tasmanian returning second-innings figures of 0-107 on debut at Brisbane and then going the distance at Adelaide (1-158 from 27 overs) as Pietersen mercilessly tucked into him on his way to a brutal double-century. JH Reginald’s obit In the 1882 Oval Test that started the whole thing, Fred ‘The Demon’ Spofforth snatched victory for Australia in a finish so tense that it caused a fatal heart attack for one spectator and another to gnaw through the handle of his brolly. England’s shock defeat even inspired the booze-soaked scribe Reginald Shirley Brooks to set aside his drink and curtail his womanising just long enough to pen the now-famous 40-word satirical obituary in The Sporting Times. Brooks died of his ‘excesses’ in 1888, aged just 33, but his playful prose afforded him Ashes mortality that would be the envy of his more dedicated peers. JW Mistaken identity Ashley Kerekes, a 22-year-old babysitter from Massachusetts, found herself at the centre of a social media frenzy during the 2010/11 Ashes when her Twitter handle led to her being confused with Test cricket’s longest-running rivalry. “Check profiles before you send mentions, it’s incredibly annoying and rude,” Ashley tweeted from her account, @theashes. And her frustration grew as the mentions flooded in. “I’M NOT A FREAKING CRICKET MATCH!!!!” she screamed at the Twittersphere. Happily, though, things turned out rather well for Ashley. With #gettheashestotheashes gaining traction, she was given complimentary flights to Sydney to see what all the fuss was about where she appeared on Test Match Special, met the Aussie PM and launched her own t-shirt range. JH Percy’s elevation The 1926 series was locked at 0-0 with one match to play when England’s selectors decided to hit the red button. They made five changes for the decider at The Oval, including recalling 48-year-old Wilfred Rhodes, a member of the selection panel, after a five-year absence. But the appointment of Percy Chapman as skipper, in place of the ousted Arthur Carr, caused the most puzzlement. The Kent dasher had almost no captaincy experience and had been dropped from the side only a match earlier. “Well, it’s news to me, complete news,” he replied when a reporter called to drop the bombshell. “Are you absolutely sure?” Percy cantered to 49 in England’s first innings and guided his side to a 289-run victory to take the series. Chapman went on to captain England in 17 Tests which included only two defeats and a 4-1 drubbing of Australia in 1928/29. JH Punter snaffles Vaughan Hocking up saliva into his hands and rubbing them in the dirt at silly point with features scrunched into a snarl, Ricky Ponting played the game hard. Level at one apiece in the ’05 series, you were more likely to see a sow somersaulting in the clouds above Trent Bridge than a flicker of a smile creep across Punter’s chops. That was until he took matters, and the ball, into his own hands towards the end of day one. With his opposite number Michael Vaughan having purred to a half-century, Ponting – with four Test wickets to his name across the best part of a decade, each celebrated with uncharacteristic abandon – brought himself on for a trundle. In the fifth over of his spell, he got the ball to shape away from a swishing Vaughan, who feathered an edge through to Gilchrist. A moment of pure elation for Ponting, who wheeled away in ecstasy. Off Vaughan trudged, destined to be called ‘Rabbit’ by his Aussie counterpart whenever the two met in the years to come. JW The ComBat A cricket bat, made of aluminium? Why ever not?! Dennis Lillee’s decision in 1979 to promote his mate’s innovation in a Test match backfired when he clumped a drive off Botham and the ball, having made a terrible clanging noise, failed to reach the boundary. Mike Brearley complained that the ball was getting damaged, Lillee got narked, and when his own captain Greg Chappell – peeved that Lillee’s shot had only resulted in three runs – came on to the pitch to demand he use a wooden one, Lillee hurled the offending article 40 yards away. The ComBat, swiftly declared illegal, was never seen again, and Lillee ended up with a garage full of unused gear. PW Sydney’s grab Sydney Copley’s career was going nowhere fast when he was summoned to perform 12th-man duties for England at Trent Bridge in 1930. Aged 24, he’d made a few unremarkable appearances for the Notts second XI but his agility in the outfield had caught the eye and when Harold Larwood went down with gastritis on day four, his chance to shine arrived. Chasing an unlikely target, Stan McCabe was refusing to go down gently and Maurice Tate warned Copley to watch out if he pitched it short. Sure enough, McCabe launched a short delivery from Tate towards mid-on and suddenly all eyes were on Copley. “Stan played it hard and low, not more than six inches off the ground,” he recalled. “I made many yards to reach it and with a terrific effort I seized the ball and turned a somersault, still clinging to the ball.” England went on to win but this was as good as it got for Sydney. He made his first-class debut the following week before drifting away from the professional game without making any further appearances. JH Beefy gets the gig Perennial Ashes bit-part player, Lord Ian Botham, was handed another cameo just in time for the last series, but this time by close chum and occasional PM Boris Johnson, who gave his Brexit-clinching helpmeet the role of the UK government’s official trade ambassador to Australia. The then international trade secretary Liz Truss, making her second appearance in these pages, cheerfully declared that Beefy would “bat for business Down Under” by boosting exports and promoting investment on the back of the two countries’ “historic trade deal”, an agreement which, when it kicked in earlier this year, was met with a fierce backlash from many British farmers, who felt their own beef had been seriously undervalued. Never. PW George Davis is everywhere For a time in the mid-Seventies, George Davis was the most famous alleged criminal in the land, whose conviction for armed robbery at the London Electricity Board offices in Ilford led to a concerted campaign of activism from Davis’s associates to quash the verdict. And so, on the final day of the 1975 Leeds Test, with England hopeful of cleaning up the Aussie tail and chasing down a target, fans turned up to find the words ‘SORRY IT [HAD] TO BE DONE’ daubed on the walls of the ground, followed by the legend: ‘FREE GEORGE DAVIS’, while inside the ground, ground staff surveyed the unsalvageable wreckage of the pitch, dug up overnight and its potholes filled with oil. As for Davis, in 1976 the home secretary Roy Jenkins granted his early release on account of insufficient and unreliable evidence; two years later, however, Davis pleaded guilty to an armed bank raid in Tottenham and served seven years, and three years after that he was jailed again, this time for stealing mailbags. PW OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99 Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15). Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer. If you’re looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news. Take part in the Screen Test, a project from Radio Times and the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, to explore the role of television and audio in our lives. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
The Ashes 2023 predictions: Wisden Cricket Monthly, Tailenders and broadcasters make their calls
Wisden Cricket Monthly staff and some celebrity guests offer up their predictions ahead of The Ashes 2023.
Ahead of The Ashes 2023, Wisden Cricket Monthly writers and a host of special guests make their final predictions for the series. Sam Perry The Grade Cricketer podcast host Probably 2 or 3-1 England, pretty much in the usual way. Anderson and Broad, grey skies, green nibble. Some 5.5 an over stuff, but I think the classicists will do more than the revolutionaries. Smith won’t be Bradman, Marnus might be, and for all the Bazball talk, it will be Root and the two warhorses who get it done. Cummins will be admirable. Both sides will enjoy their golf and talk about it a strange amount. There is something final about all of this. The dying embers of something. I am going to do my best to savour it. So actually, Australia will win. 0-3. Tim Key Actor and comedian 2-2 with a big one right in the middle that England point-blank refuse to draw, go all out for the win and are pipped and people are (wrongly) furious. Other than that, everything the same, Root virtuoso, Anderson metronomic, Harry Cherrington Brook thrashing a triple century. Meanwhile, Labuschagne and Smith unremovable and as far as I can remember the idea of Boland is he plays three of the Tests and gets 9-16 in each of them, misses out on the other two. Greg James Radio 1 DJ and host of the Tailenders podcast For mains, I’d like to order a Tailender (preferably Jimmy) at the crease batting out a thrilling draw to save the Oval Test, therefore securing a triumphant 2-1 series win for England please. I’d also like a side of Duckett cementing his place at the top of the order and Australia to suffer a comedy injury a la McGrath ’05 – ideally to Marnus. I’d only like him to miss one Test though. I’m not completely evil. Oh, and the women’s Ashes will also be won by England. Issy Wong to be player of the series. More from The Ashes: Ashes TV coverage | Ashes radio coverage | Ashes schedule | Ashes squads | Ashes predictions | Ashes highlights | Sky Sports Ashes commentators | Test Match Special Ashes commentators Mark Pougatch ITV chief sports presenter As a full-time member of the wicketkeepers’ union I’m very worried the Foakes decision will come back to haunt England. His keeping is magnificent and the yin of his batting seems to complement nicely to the yang of everyone else’s. I’m also concerned about the fitness of England’s fast bowling battalion and dismayed about and for Jofra Archer. All of this makes me lean towards Steve Smith twirling his bat like a drum major as Australia just edge their first series win here in two decades. Felix White Musician and Tailender Has this been the most oddly distressing Ashes build-up in history? You can’t move for (brilliant) pieces and extended speeches from the heart on the future of Test cricket and how we must protect it even if it’s too late. This has set this series up miles from its usual posturing of the “5-0 to us” crowd. You sense the most important thing for all concerned is that it is just good. You know, as good as we all know it can be. So amongst all of that, credit to Stuart Broad for ploughing head first into the Ashes-isms. He has a new delivery up his sleeve. It’s specifically designed for Labuschagne and Smith. The sheer self-belief required to say this out loud is enough to help me believe too. He has a career-encapsulating burst at The Oval to win a once in a lifetime Ashes 3-2 on the last day. You never know. It really really really could happen. Mel Farrell Australian writer and broadcaster Under Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum, England have been adamant they don’t do draws so I’m going to take them at their word, as long as the weather cooperates. I suspect the results may swing dramatically from match to match and I wouldn’t bank on many lasting the full five days. The management and fitness of fast bowlers in a jammed schedule may prove decisive and England have more concerns in that regard. The all-round skills of a red-hot Cameron Green, not to mention the flexibility and balance he offers Australia, could be key. And I expect Ollie Robinson to make a huge impact on the series. I love a dramatic dénouement so I’m backing Stokes to be true to his word, with a slight variation; 2-2 going into the Oval Test, Stokes declares at three wickets down on the final day, setting Australia 300, and England take the 10th wicket in the final hour to seal victory. The women’s Ashes should be more competitive than the last series but Alyssa Healy’s squad has more depth than the Mariana Trench, even without Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes. England’s younger recruits seem less fearful of Australia’s daunting reputation and Nat Sciver-Brunt is in sensational form. As always, much hinges on the Test, where Ellyse Perry will score a century that sets up a tight victory. Australia take the series 12-4. Jo Harman Wisden Cricket Monthly magazine editor The men’s series feels gloriously unpredictable, with any scoreline possible. Can England hit their way out of trouble against a formidable Australian attack? Last summer’s Lord’s Test, when Rabada ran riot and the hosts were thumped by an innings, showed us the flipside of Bazball and one or two English implosions feel inevitable against such high-quality bowlers. And with Stokes unlikely to be able to offer much with the ball, I’m concerned about the balance of the side in what could essentially be a four-man attack. That said, I still make England marginal favourites, largely because of the strength of that ridiculously watchable middle order. I’m going for a come-from-behind 3-2 win sealed by Stokes at The Oval, the skipper somehow still standing despite only having one working knee. As for the women’s series, only a fool would bet against Australia, even with Meg Lanning absent, but I do think England will push them harder than in recent contests. England to win the Test match at Trent Bridge before coming unstuck in the white-ball stuff, eventually going down 10-6 – Nat Sciver-Brunt and Tahlia McGrath the stars of the summer. Phil Walker Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief I think Australia will edge it. 2-3. Their attack is made for English conditions. Scott Boland seems like the perfect accompaniment to the big names. And while we like to remember Nathan Lyon bent double after fluffing that run out at Leeds, he still took 20 wickets four years ago, and nine at Edgbaston, scene of this year’s first Test. Cameron Green at No.6 offers them promise of the epic, the only question is when it materialises, and Alex Carey is a quality keeper-bat. England’s attack concerns me. If Anderson and Robinson play every Test they have every chance, but it’s a huge ask in a condensed series. Both have had niggles already this season. Ben Stokes – the cricketer – is the other deciding factor. Two questions: Will he bowl? And how will he bat? If it’s like Manchester last year – controlled, ruthless, latterly expansive – then anything’s possible. Root (who’s due against Australia) and Smith for a top-runs double. I see it as much the same for the women’s Ashes, Australia to edge a tight one, with England winning the Test match to set up a humdinger that falls to the yellow wall at the death. 6-10. View Green Video on the source website OFFER FOR RADIO TIMES READERS: Subscribe to Wisden Cricket Monthly today for £45.99 Not only will you save 30% off the equivalent single issue price but you'll also receive a free storage binder (RRP £13.99 - conveniently, holds 10 magazines!) PLUS a free copy of The Best of First Five Years of The Nightwatchman, Wisden’s cricket quarterly (RRP £15). Enter the code RADIOWIS at the checkout to get the offer. If you’re looking for something else to watch, check out our TV Guide and Streaming Guide or visit our Sport hub for all the latest news. Take part in the Screen Test, a project from Radio Times and the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, to explore the role of television and audio in our lives. Try Radio Times magazine today and get 12 issues for only £1 with delivery to your home – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.