“Great display boys”: Jofra Archer praises England bowlers as they rattle the Kiwi batting order during ENG vs NZ 1st Test match at Lord’s

Jofra Archer praises England bowlers as they run over the New Zealand batting line-up to gain advantage on the opening day of the first Test.

During the first day of the ongoing opening Test match between England and New Zealand at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground, the English pace battery were all over the Kiwi batting line-up like a rash, as they bundled them up for a paltry 132 in mere 40 Overs, to gain a massive advantage early on in the three-match series.

The return back of the veteran fast bowling duo of James Anderson (16-6-66-4) and Stuart Broad (13-0-45-1) reaped fruit right away, as they managed to send three of their batters back in the hut before the 8-Over mark, assisted by some excellent catching by Jonny Bairstow in the slip cordon.

However, the star of the day so far was the debutant pacer from Durham – Matty Potts, who picked up the prized wicket of Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson (2) in his very first Over in international Cricket to kick-start, what turned out to be a blistering spell of pace bowling.

There was no looking back for the 23-year-old from there on, as he rattled the middle-order to end up with his first innings bowling figures of 9.2-4-13-4.

With an unbeaten 42*(50), Colin de Grandhomme was the highest run-scorer for New Zealand, with the four English pacers getting rid of their entire batting line-up.

Jofra Archer praises England bowlers

England fast bowler Jofra Archer, who has been ruled out of the entire ongoing season due to a lower back stress fracture, took to his ever famous Twitter handle, to compliment the English pacers for a rare excellent exhibition of collective fast bowling after quite some time.

Great display boys , time to back it up with the bat

— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) June 2, 2022

Archer, who had nearly completely recovered from his elbow injury and having his eyes set on making a return back to competitive Cricket for Sussex in the ongoing T20 Blast, has been handed yet another long, arduous wait off the field of play.

The 27-year-old last played in England colours against India in March 2021 during the T20I series.

As far as the ongoing Lord’s Test is concerned, England have further asserted their dominance in match proceedings with a 59-run stand for the first wicket between Alex Less and Zak Crawley at the time of writing.