Did you see… Jofra Archer get completely overshadowed for a moment?

There’s a bit in Diamonds are Forever where the police are chasing “son-of-a-bitchin’ saboteur” James Bond through the streets of Las Vegas. It climaxes with Sean Connery’s Bond turning down a dead end and flipping his Ford Mustang up onto two wheels so he can escape down a narrow alley.
Sometimes I think about this scene when I’m watching Jofra Archer bowl – because an alleyway would not contain him.
Archer must have the narrowest and most perpendicular method in world cricket. If you for some inexplicable reason desperately needed someone to bowl in a ginnel, he’s your man.
He runs in straight, he jumps up straight and his arm bowling arm comes over completely straight too. He is, in an uncommon sense, an entirely two dimensional cricketer.
We all had plenty of time to ponder Archer’s bowling action on his debut, because he gave us the most memorable delivery and the most memorable over and also the most memorable spell.
MORE THINGS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE SEEN
- Did you see… Moeen Ali clean bowled leaving the ball?
- Did you see… Usman Khawaja ramp the ball into his own off stump?
- Did you see… Rohit Sharma looking nothing like Virat Kohli?
- Did you see… much of Joe Root in the highlights?
At the end of the match, he’d been so ridiculously prominent that it was tempting to conclude that he must have bowled a third of England’s overs. Turns out he had.
Despite all this, there was one moment – one very brief moment – where Archer was completely overshadowed, and weirdly it came when he took one of his five wickets.
With Australia 149/5 in their second innings and seven overs to go, Archer bowled a short one (of course he did) to Tim Paine.
Paine hooked it because I don’t know why – you’d have to ask Tim Paine about that one – and Joe Denly took a spectacular splay-legged starfish catch.
WHAT A CATCH! 😍
Denly with a marvelous one-handed catch at midwicket as Paine goes on the pull!
Follow over-by-over updates and clips from the second Ashes Test at Lord's. Watch live on Sky Sports The Ashes 👉 https://t.co/njbXdbM1Ta pic.twitter.com/eGxXnJQCFv
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) August 18, 2019
It was an excellent catch, but all anyone wanted to know in the immediate aftermath was whether it was The Greatest Catch Of All Time.
Replays revealed that while Denly had gained “good air” he unfortunately hadn’t been at absolute claw-it-in-with-your-fingertips full stretch when he made contact with the ball. It was therefore sadly apparent that this was not The Greatest Catch Of All Time.
That very faint sense of deflation and the simultaneous feeling that, ‘oh, maybe England do still have a bit of an outside chance of winning this one,’ masked something far more significant, though. Denly had arguably just produced The Greatest Celebratory Throw Of All Time.
Watch the footage again and focus on the moment when Denly gets up. Having taken the catch with his left hand, he transfers the ball to his right hand and then backhands it into the frigging sun.
This is such a weird way to throw a ball, but look how much he commits to it. Watch his right arm in the follow through. Denly threw the ball so hard he all but dislocated his shoulder to hit himself on the back of the left elbow afterwards.
Who throws a ball backhand and why? I’ll tell you who and I’ll tell you why. Joe Denly does, and he does it because he’s so bloody excited about taking a brilliant diving catch in an Ashes Test that he literally cannot wait until his arm’s in a position to throw forehand to commence his celebrations.
I think that is a sentiment we can all get behind.
Latest
-
England
On this day in 2017: Sir Alastair Cook steps down as England Test captain
Cook’s 59 Tests in charge made him the nation’s longest-serving captain at the time.
-
England
Hoggard and Bresnan withdraw as ECB racism process ‘has failed everybody’
The case is due to be heard in public by a Cricket Discipline Commission panel at the start of next month.
-
England
ECB’s Azeem Rafiq racism investigation has ‘failed everyone’ – Matthew Hoggard
Ex-England player Hoggard has withdrawn his co-operation from the process.
-
County Cricket
Ex-England and Yorkshire seamer Matthew Hoggard pulls out of racism hearing
Hoggard was charged by the ECB in June.
-
Women's Cricket
Jon Lewis keen to take World Cup fight to dominant Australia
England open their campaign against the West Indies on February 11.
-
England
Jos Buttler understands ‘complicated’ decision for players to skip Bangladesh
Alex Hales, Sam Billings and Liam Dawson are among those missing the white-ball tour to play in the Pakistan Super League.
-
New Zealand
Kyle Jamieson returns to New Zealand fold for England Tests but Trent Boult out
Fast bowler Jamison has played for New Zealand since last summer.
-
England
Jos Buttler focusing on positives despite England’s series loss in South Africa
There were some standout performances in the series as Jason Roy, Dawid Malan and Buttler all made hundreds.
-
England
England hand Rehan Ahmed first white-ball call-up for tour of Bangladesh
Ahmed became England’s youngest men’s Test cricketer when he lined up against Pakistan in Karachi.
-
England
How are England’s prospects looking ahead of World Cup defence?
Twin defeats in Bloemfontein meant victory in Kimberley was a mere consolation for double world champions England.