Jofra Archer marked his Hundred debut with a wicket and a victory as Southern Brave breezed past London Spirit in Wednesday night’s men’s match in Southampton.
The England bowler – who missed the first three seasons of the tournament due to a horror run with back and elbow injuries – dismissed Andre Russell one ball after being hit for six by the West Indian in Brave’s seven-wicket win at the Utilita Bowl.
Archer recorded figures of 1-24 from 20 balls as Brave restricted Spirit to 138-9, with Craig Overton taking 3-16 from 20 balls and Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills bagging two wickets each.
Brave made light work of their target, reaching it in 89 balls as skipper James Vince (56 off 35) and opening partner Daniel Hughes (45 off 30) put on 95 from 58 balls.
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James Vince scored 65 off 35 balls to help Southern Brave beat London Spirit in The Hundred
Liam Dawson had earlier top-scored for Spirit with a late 45 not out from 19 balls, which included a six and two fours from the final three deliveries of the innings, bowled by Jordan.
Spirit had lost Adam Rossington – caught by Overton off the bowling of left-am spinner James Coles – to the third ball of the match and were 95-7 off 80 balls before Dawson’s cameo.
Archer: Small steps to the end of the year
Archer, who told the BBC on Tuesday that he was hoping to be part of England’s Ashes tour to Australia in 2025/26, spoke to Sky Sports about his fitness ahead of Brave’s win over Spirit.
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Archer says his return to full fitness will be ‘small steps’ until the end of the year
The 29-year-old said: “Hopefully all the chat about the body is way behind me.
“I just want to get some good performances in. I want to make small steps to the end of the year, keep playing and be a regular again.”
England managing director of cricket Rob Key has previously said Archer will not play Test cricket until at least 2025.
Player of the Match – Craig Overton
“It was a pretty good surface, it did a little bit with the new ball, and we wanted to make it as hard as possible, bowling with no width, and it came off.
Craig Overton claimed figures of 3-16 from his 20 deliveries for Brave
“We’ve got some decent pace in our boys, so I knew their batters would be coming at me a bit more. I knew I had to be on it and hit my lengths.
“Vincey [James Vince] is a phenomenal player and he’s done it for years in the Vitality Blast, he’s carried that form into The Hundred and it’s nice to see him back in form.”
What’s next?
The Hundred continues on Thursday as Manchester Originals take on Welsh Fire at Emirates Old Trafford.
Both matches are live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event, as well as in a free live stream on skysports.com, the Sky Sports app and on the Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.
Originals Women vs Fire Women is live from 2.30pm (3pm first ball), with Originals Men vs Fire Men on air from 6pm (6.30pm first ball).
Sky Sports will show all 68 games in The Hundred live this summer, while you can also watch selected matches via free streams on Sky Sports’ digital platforms and Sky Sports Cricket YouTube channel.
