Ashes 2019: Jofra Archer’s presence, Steve Smith’s absence and a third Test that promises to electrify

After such a compelling finale at Lord's, the quick turnaround has set the stage for fireworks at Headingley

Outside of the Eurostar, there is no train in the UK that gallops along at a faster clip than the service from London to Leeds, the route this newly-electrified Ashes series takes for the Third Test this Thursday after the quickest allowable turnaround time of three days. Headingley is another proper Ashes venue too, stories of Morris and Bradman, Botham and Willis, Taylor and Marsh – to note but a few from clashes past – rolling off the tongue.

It’s also the ground where Steve Smith made his first Test half-century in 2010 against Pakistan, in a match where Australia were skittled for 88 on a pitch that met all the stereotypes as a northern England fast-bowlers’ dream. But it was confirmed by the Australian camp within an hour of arriving on Tuesday that there was no way the former captain, concussed on the weekend, would be available for selection here this time around.

Obvious as that decision was, it is still a shock to the system for a side that can’t ignore how Jofra Archer changed the series last weekend. But from Justin Langer’s perspective, this Test won’t be played on the sort of surface that helped Big Bob hurtle down from the Kirkstall Lane End hill for his famous 8/43 in 1981. While the Leeds Test surface has been assessed as the world’s fifth quickest by CricViz, that isn’t the experience in First Class fare this year.

“We think the wicket will be quite slow,” the Australian coach forecast. “It’s not going to be as fast as some of the other wickets we’ve seen, my understanding of everything we’ve been told about playing here.” As Travis Head explained in the aftermath of Lord’s, that won’t make the short-pitched bowling any easier to handle for the batsman, but it does galvanise the tourists around their plan Plan A with the ball: to out-think, rather than out-blast, the hosts.

“What we’re not going to do is get caught up an emotional battle of who’s going to bowl the quickest bouncers,” Langer declared. “We’re here to win the Test match, not to see how many helmets we can hit. Mike Atherton said a really interesting thing to me the other day, ‘it seems a really different Australian team, in the past you puff your chests out, you grow your beards and you’re all tough and see if you can bowl as fast as you want. This isn’t as macho as before’. We’re here to win the Test match, not to see how many bruises we can give.”

They are words that auger well for Peter Siddle or potentially uncapped Michael Neser, both picked to serve as a balance to their pacier colleagues. That one of those, Mitchell Starc, is yet to play in the series – and may very well miss out again this week – does reinforce this noticeable shift in thinking. Smith might not be around to deliver the bowlers quite the same number of runs to play with as they have had so far, but it won’t knock Tim Paine’s side from a mantra that the captain implemented when taking the job: winning on skill.

David Warner has been out of form in the series (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

“It’s hard for young players and even senior players,” Langer explained of the emotional challenge in the heat of an Ashes stoush. “You can get caught up in the atmosphere, you can get caught up in the contest. But it’s not an ego game – you’ve got to just keep trusting your skill, keep watching the ball like a hawk. I keep saying simplify as much as possible so we’re winning on skill not emotion. But it is a challenge. That’s the challenge of mental toughness, that’s the challenge of concentration, that’s the challenge of what the champion players do.”

It is instructive of modern thinking too that Smith wasn’t rushed back given the stakes at play in this series that matters most. From the moment the concussion process commenced – one which Cricket Australia have championed – he let himself be subject to it. Langer noted that the former captain was just “a couple of days” from being fit for selection but that was that.

Steve Smith will miss the third Test due to concussion (Getty)

Looking at the cricket side of that equation, Langer believes that Smith’s absence is the equivalent of England having lost James Anderson in the first hour of the series opener. “We have got to make sure that all the other guys, our senior players and our younger players all step up and fill what are almost unfillable shoes as he is almost the best player in the world,” he said. “We’ve talked the whole time about squad mentality and being ready and when things come up like they always do in this game and guys are ready to step up.”

One man who did at Lord’s was Marnus Labuaschagne, the Queenslander brought in as Smith’s concussion substitute – the first in Test history – rattling off a composed half-century to ensure the drawn result on the final afternoon. Due to the way he handled Archer, there is no temptation for Langer and Paine to modify their top six. What they would relish, however, is a return to form of David Warner who has yet to get out of first gear – or single digits – across four completed innings so far. “Don’t write off David Warner,” Langer insisted.

Jofra Archer is congratulated by his teammates (AFP/Getty)

Which brings us back to Archer. In the same way Australia’s progress has been defined so crushingly by Smith, that same burden now sits on the shoulders of the 23-year-old. The difference: according to Twitter, the former seems far more concerned about making sure he can plug his game console into the hotel television than what he does on the field. Confected or otherwise, he carries himself with an ease and sureness that takes some combating.

“Our guys play a lot of short ball cricket in Australia,” reflected Langer of Archer’s scariest weapon. “He certainly brings a different dimension to the game and we saw he bowled quick. But also his economy rate was incredible. I think he went for just over one run an over, that is unbelievable, skilful bowling and he bowled some fast bouncers in between. That’s what we love about it. That’s what Test cricket’s all about. It’s bloody brilliant.” Too right it is. More of the same? A gripping contest over five days? We should be so lucky. Buckle up.