His mastery of angles from over the wicket and around keeps left-handed batters on their toes
Matt Roller24-Jul-2025
Jofra Archer has enjoyed bowling to left-handers in this series, and his career•Getty Images
It was a sight to make any fast bowler purr: a stump lodged in the outfield like a javelin after being uprooted and sent cartwheeling towards the wicketkeeper. It was made even better for Jofra Archer by the fact that it was the batter’s off stump, and better still that the batter in question was Rishabh Pant.Pant’s wicket on the second afternoon of the Manchester Test was Archer’s seventh of the series, and all seven had been left-handers. That was not a coincidence, but a wider trend of Archer’s career: he has bowled just over 30% of his deliveries in Test cricket to left-handers, but they account for more than 40% of his wickets.He did finally dismiss a right-hander for the first time this series when he had Jasprit Bumrah caught down the leg side on review, but the story of Archer’s return to England’s Test team has been his threat against lefties. He now averages 35.48 against right-handers in Tests compared to 21.66 against left-handers, and the trend extends across formats.Related
Ironman Stokes beats his body and recaptures his peak
'I loved that little eight-minute passage at Lord's' – Crawley senses another chance to rile India
Duckett, Crawley flatten India on day headlined by Pant's bravery
Jofra Archer: 'I will do everything in my power to be on plane to Australia'
Eight years, five PMs and one pandemic later, Dawson returns with a wicket
The ball that accounted for Pant was the archetypal left-hander’s dismissal to a right-arm seamer in the modern era: angled in from around the wicket on a good length, before shaping away late to hit the off stump. It was once the angle of last resort but in 2025, more than 70% of balls from right-arm seamers to left-handers have been from around the wicket.But Archer’s threat to left-handers is exacerbated by the fact that he is just as comfortable bowling over the wicket to them, as he proved in his first over of the second morning. He created two chances in three balls to Ravindra Jadeja – the first dropped at gully, the second taken at second slip – which highlighted his great strength of keeping tight to the stumps.Compared to most right-arm seamers, Archer’s angle across left-handers from over the wicket is much less pronounced. The result is not only that he never offers enough width to be cut, but that he can keep multiple modes of dismissal in play with a single ball: his stock ball pitches in line with leg stump, unlocking the lbw, then shapes away off the seam to challenge the edge.
JOFRAAA!!
Archer flirts with the outside edge a few times, then gets the nick!
Harry Brook holds on and Ravindra Jadeja is gone for 20.
pic.twitter.com/F0XuLbAe6B
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 24, 2025