HE'S JOF TO A FLYING START

Archer joy at wicket with his third ball

- by MIKE WALTERS

HE had to wait 1,598 days after taking his 42nd Test wicket for the 43rd to come along.

But on the ground where he wheeled away in a joyous arc following his super-over heroics at the 2019 World Cup final, Jofra Archer's celebration was no less euphoric.

Armed with the new ball, Archer's third delivery - travelling at 90mph - tracked Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s outside edge like a golfer’s putt teasing the cup.

And when Harry Brook pouched a routine catch at second slip, the roar reverberating around Lord's was probably audible in a distant colony.

Archer's next ball, to new batsman Karun Nair, hit 93.6mph on the speedometer and his opening spell did not just send a message to our friends in Australia - it trailed a health warning in plumes of smoke across the sky.

After more than four years of injury frustration, from cutting his hand cleaning a fish tank to stress fractures, he’s back.

As good as new - and just as quick.