Australia unsettled by Jofra Archer and Mark Wood's pace, says England's Chris Jordan
"It looked quick out there - you only had to see how the Aussie batters were reacting to the ball and messing up their foot movement. They really put on a show"
Sunday 6 September 2020 12:27, UK
Chris Jordan says Jofra Archer and Mark Wood rocked Australia with their pace as England rallied to win the first T20 international.
Australia were coasting at 124-1 in pursuit of 163 for victory at The Ageas Bowl, only to lose five wickets for 24 runs, with Archer bowling David Warner (58) and Wood cleaning up Alex Carey (1).
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Both Archer and Wood clocked over 90mph on the speed gun and fellow seamer Jordan says he could see his team-mates disturb the tourists' batsmen as England recovered to record a two-run victory, with Australia only scoring 12 of the 15 runs they required from Tom Curran's final over.
"It looked quick out there - you only had to see how the Aussie batters were reacting to the ball and messing up their foot movement," said Jordan, after Archer and Wood returned to England's white-ball side following the end of the Test match summer.
"It is a pleasure to have both of them in our team - with two guys who bowl consistently above 90mph, we put ourselves in a position where we can win a game like that even up against it.
"When Woody and Jof came on in that middle period that's where it started to change for us. They really put on a show and really unsettled batsmen.
"They started to really come at the Aussie batsmen hard, bowling with some extreme pace, and shifting the momentum back in our favour.
"That helps the team as players have to take a risk against Rash (leg-spinner Adil Rashid) as they feel they aren't getting anything off Jof and Woody."
I’ve not really thought about it from that point of view. I just try to go about my job on a daily basis. It’s nice for the captain [Eoin Morgan] to say such nice words. Those things always give you confidence and hopefully I can keep repaying that faith.
Archer - who also dismissed Australia captain Aaron Finch (46) when Jordan caught calmly at mid-off - has endured a tough summer, missing a Test against West Indies after a bio-secure breach and also being subjected to racial abuse on social media.
Jordan, Archer's Sussex team-mate and close friend, said: "When I handed him his Test cap I told him that he was on a high but that he would experience some low periods.
"The character he has, he will always find a way of coming through it. The biggest thing for me [in the first T20I] was the amount of time Jof was smiling. He looked like he was really enjoying himself.
"I started to tease him - when he touched 92mph I wanted to see if he could touch 95mph. It was nice to watch him execute his skills."
England captain Eoin Morgan spoke of how his bowlers "bailed out" the batsmen during the team's victory in Southampton, praising Jordan and Curran's death bowling as well as Rashid - who removed Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell in the same over - and speedsters Wood and Archer.
Jordan - who conceded only four runs from the penultimate over and also ran out Ashton Agar - added: "A lot of the talk over the last few years is about the batting line-up and how phenomenal it is but it was nice in a sense that the bowlers bailed the batters out, if you like.
Maybe we can look at how many balls are hitting the stumps, hitting the pads, as you are looking for wickets in that powerplay. Perhaps we were a bit short and got tucked away on the leg-side and off-side. Maybe that’s an area for us to look at.
"Jofra and Woody really hit their straps and got us back into the game. Then Rash, the wizard, did his thing - getting Smith and Maxwell was a big turning point.
"They are two big players and when they are back in the dressing room you feel you have a sniff. We really fancied our chances then.
"I thought if we had two quiet overs we were right in the game because the ball was starting to do a bit and we started to get our lengths spot on.
We would have loved to have the fans there to experience that victory with us but it doesn’t take away from the intensity we find out there. We are playing against a quality side, one we always want to beat. You could feel the tension and it was just as good as if there were 20,000 in there screaming.
"Then me and TC were able to close it out in the end. TC's final over was brilliant - he held his nerve, stayed as calm as possible and executed the plans.
"We have really good variety in the attack, no one is really too similar, so that gives Morgs (Eoin Morgan) some good options to choose from."
Watch the second T20I between England and Australia live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 1.30pm on Sunday.
