Barabados-born Jofra Archer rose through ranks in England cricket as he made his Test debut against Australia in the Ashes 2019. Archer took five wickets at Lord's but his pace caused problems for Australia batters. His bouncer hit Steve Smith on the head. He came out to bat later in the first innings and scored 92 runs. However, he suffered concussion and was substituted by Marnus Labuschagne. As Archer got ruled out of Ashes 2023, an Australian media portal put out a tweet where they mentioned that English paceman terrorised batters four years ago.
Smith did not like it as he wrote in reply: “Terrorised? remind me when I was dismissed by him….”
Despite missing out on Headingley Test and an innings in the Lord's Test, Smith ended up scoring 774 runs from seven innings at an average of 110.57 including three centuries and three fifties.
As Smith returned to the playing XI for the fourth Test at Old Trafford in 2019, he was asked about the Archer threat to which he said, ‘There’s been a bit of talk that he’s got the wood over me, but he hasn’t actually got me out. He hit me on the head on a wicket that was a bit up and down at Lords.”
“All the other bowlers have had more success against me, I daresay. I’ve faced them a bit more, but they’ve all got me out a lot more.
“If they’re bowling up there it means they can’t nick me off, or hit me on the pad or hit the stumps. With the Dukes ball – I don’t know, that’s an interesting ploy.”
Archer had a response for Smith as well as he said, “Well, I can't get him out if he wasn't there."
"But there'll be more than ample time to get him out. I'm not saying I won't get him out but if we don't get him out there's 10 other people we can get out and if he's stranded on 40 that's not helping his team too much.
"He can't do it all himself. We want to win the game. I'm not here to get caught up in a contest with one man. I want to win the Ashes."
Before the Ashes 2023, Smith will face Indian bowlers in the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 final at the Oval. Currently, he is preparing for WTC final with a short stint at Cheteshwar Pujara-led Sussex in County Championship Division Two.
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