Former England player Nasser Hussain discussed the camaraderie between pacer Jofra Archer and captain Ben Stokes, explaining how the Three Lions skipper makes the pacer tick. Archer has been in hot form since his comeback helping England defeat India at Lord’s with the series currently at 2-1 in the hosts’ favour.
“I like him. I like the fact that Ben knows what makes Jofra Archer tick. There’s a huge amount of respect between the two of them and I said to you in the other game. At Lord’s, exactly the same happened,” Hussain said on Sky Sports.
“Stokes has that mentality ‘I am your friend and I’ll look after you but I am not your best friend’. If you don’t quite get it right, I will have a word with you. Even here, you see, he is having a word with him but in a nice way. I think you know your premier fast bowlers, you know your cricketers. You know what makes them tick. You’d have had Anderson and Broad. You’ll know what to do with Anderson and you might have to do something different to Broad. You play one off against the other. He’ll know what will make Archer tick an I think Archer is actually a better bowler when he is a little fired up and his legs start pumping a little bit,” he added.
Nasser Hussain discusses the relationship between Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer 🤝 pic.twitter.com/iRBw2hNXTE
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 28, 2025
Archer has been on Stokes side when the two won the 2019 Cricket World Cup with the pacer bowling the Super Over after the match was tied. Archer returned to the red ball setup for the first time since February 2021 against India in the 3rd Test at Lord’s of the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy where he took 5 wickets in the match. He also played the 4th Test at Manchester taking 4 wickets in both innings.
Archer, who was added to the England squad for the five-match series last month, had missed the second Test after he missed a training session at Edgbaston due to a family emergency. Archer, who has struggled with elbow-related injury to his bowling arm over the last several years, last played in a Test more than four years ago against India in Ahmedabad.
