Head coach backs Archer for Ashes

JOFRA WILL BE READY FOR ‘BIGGEST SERIES OF OUR LIVES’

- By RORY DOLLARD, PA

ENGLAND head coach Brendon McCullum has dubbed this winter’s Ashes “the biggest series of our lives”.

It is still two and a half months until his side line up for the first Test in Perth but there is no escaping the importance of a tour that could define the ‘Bazball’ project.

Ordinarily, Sunday's gargantuan 342-run win over South Africa at the Utilita Bowl would be seen exclusively as a bellwether for England's white-ball fortunes. But with Australia on the horizon, it is impossible not to look across formats.

Jacob Bethell’s maiden professional century was an important tick in the box for a player who will head Down Under with a realistic hope of making the XI and the dynamic new-ball bowling of Jofra Archer was another step in the right direction.