Jofra Archer took two wickets on his long-awaited return to international cricket as England beat Pakistan by 23 runs at Edgbaston to go 1-0 up in the four-match T20 series. England captain Jos Buttler was man of the match after hitting 84 off 51 balls to set the hosts a target of 184. But it was Archer’s return that caught the eye as he defended the side in the T20 World Cup in next month. in the United States and the West Indies, no harm. The fast bowler has suffered elbow injuries since his starring role in helping England win the 50-over World Cup in 2019.
In his first international appearance in 14 months, and his first at home since 2020, Archer recovered from a costly debut, which lasted 15 runs, to finish with two for 28.
“I thought Jofra Archer was brilliant,” Buttler said. “You can see his excitement as he takes wickets for England again, but we need to temper those expectations because he won’t be the same straight away.
“I’m really pleased with the whole bowling group.”
Muhammad Rizwan was run out in the first over by Moeen Ali and Reece Topley took three wickets for 41.
Buttler was England’s batting star with three sixes and eight fours.
He was ably supported by 37 from Will Jacks and 21 from Jonny Bairstow, but England were unable to build on the platform given to them by their captain.
Five wickets fell for just 25 runs as Pakistan struggled with Shaheen Shah Afridi as the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-36.
“We got them to par, our bowlers bowled really well and we had our moments where we were batting,” Pakistan captain Babar Azam said.
Fakhar Zaman’s 45 off 21 balls gave some impetus to Pakistan’s chase, but after he got off Archer’s pace, Topley and Chris Jordan tore the tourists’ tails off with four balls to spare.
“We didn’t finish well. We had a small partnership, me and Fakhar, but we didn’t get another 40 or 50 partnerships that England did,” Azam added.
England lead the four-match series 1-0 after the first game was washed out on Wednesday.
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