Jofra Archer has revisited his famous observation about Naseem Shah, joking that he would want to learn from anyone capable of bowling at 90 miles per hour for three consecutive days.
On a recent podcast, the host brought up Archer’s comment from the first Test between England and Pakistan at Old Trafford in August 2020, where a then 17-year-old Naseem had touched 90mph while Archer operated in the mid-80s.
Archer had said at the time that Naseem was fresh into international cricket and would learn over time that there are moments to bowl express and moments to shift through the gears.
Asked on the podcast what drives that decision, Archer was candid.
“To be honest, if anybody stood for three days and still bowling 90 mile an hour, I want to go to their school, to be honest,” he said. “But it could be the situation in the game as well,” he added.
During the 2020 Test, Archer had addressed the pace comparison directly when asked about Naseem on Sky Sports.
“I’ve seen Shah started bowling 90mph so we’ll see how he goes on later on tomorrow morning or afternoon,” he said.
“No one is a robot, so I’ll be very, very interested to see what he can produce a bit later. This is not a wicket you’re really going to try to bend your back on. It’s spinning on day two so that says a lot,” he said at that time.
Archer finished that Test with three wickets for 59 runs and briefly found himself on a hat-trick.
England went on to win that first Test by three wickets at Old Trafford, with Chris Woakes named Player of the Match.
