SA vs ENG | Twitter laments Jofra Archer's lost magic following horrendous comeback

South Africa failed to make full use of great batting conditions at the Maungaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Friday as they managed a sub-par total of 298/7 after choosing to bat first in the first of three ODIs against England. The visiting bowling attack maintained discipline for large parts of the game, proving their solitude in the middle overs to negate the great foundation set for the hosts. However, amidst a positive performance with a depleted unit, the Three Lions would take away a major concern from the game after spearhead Jofra Archer racked up the most expensive figures in his ODI career while looking out of rhythm and lost for the majority of the encounter.

Archer was making his international comeback after 687 days, while his last ODI came way back in September 2020. The 27-year-old has since had two elbow surgeries and recovered from a back stress fracture but managed to play five SA20 games before donning the England colours. 

Jofra ended with figures of 10-0-81-1, his only scalp being that of lower-order batter Wayne Parnell. Handed the new ball in the second over by skipper Temba Bavuma, Archer was conveyed it would be a tough day out on a flat pitch with a boundary by Quinton de Kock on the fifth ball itself. Fellow opener Temba Bavuma took little time to get in on the act and by the end of his five-over powerplay spell, Archer had already conceded 41 runs without showing any hints of troubling the batsmen despite his sheer pace. Previously, the bowler had never conceded over 79 runs in ODIs and had a career economy of 4.74 alongside an excellent average of 24.

The right-arm quick did not reach the same lofty speeds he has become renowned for either, albeit the pacer did claim he was just '80% fit' ahead of the encounter. However, Twiteratti was quick to raise questions over Archer's future and whether he was the same bowler anymore, leading to intense discussions on the social media platform.

Archer finally gets one

Definetly he is not

New admission

Absolutely not

He will improve

Not a good comeback

bad day at work

What a comeback

Horrendous

Expensive