Star Australian batter Steve Smith came up with an epic reply after an Australian publication cited Jofra Archer's absence as a relief for him ahead of the 2023 Ashes series. The 33-year-old took to his official Twitter handle and questioned when Archer had dismissed him.
Jofra Archer's short ball concussed Steve Smith during 2019 Ashes:
It's worth noting that the England paceman hadn't dismissed him, but enjoyed a riveting contest with Smith during the 2019 leg. The first innings of the second Test of that series at Lord's saw the 28-year-old floor the right-hander with a lethal short ball. It resulted in a concussion, forcing the New South Wales batter out of the second inning and the next Test. While Archer kept the Aussie batters on their toes, he could not get Smith's wicket.
The Australian publication Code Sports tweeted:
"England paceman @JofraArcher terrorised Australia's batsmen four years ago. But Steve Smith and co can breathe a huge sigh of relief after an update from England's medical staff this evening."
Smith hit back by saying "Terrorised? remind me when I was dismissed by him."
Robert Key hopes Jofra Archer can take inspiration from Pat Cummins:
Meanwhile, England men's cricket's managing director Robert Key sympathized with Archer and hopes Pat Cummins, who missed six years of his international cricket, can serve as an inspiration. Key also declared that Archer is keen on playing all formats. As quoted by Sky Sports, he said:
"People like Pat Cummings missed a lot of cricket in the early stage of his career and now he's putting season after season together for Australia. I'm hoping at some point, Jofra, who deserves a bit of luck and is distraught about what's happened, that his luck turns. I'm sure it will. The one thing about Jofra is sometimes people think he's going to go down the white-ball road and there are other things on his mind. That's absolutely not the case. He's desperate to play all forms of cricket."
Archer missed out on England's 15-man squad for the one-off Test against Ireland, starting on June 1st at Lord's.
