Australia will not get drawn into a tit-for-tat battle of bouncers against England, but will be prepared for a repeat of Jofra Archer’s short-pitched barrage in the remaining Ashes Tests, says coach Justin Langer.
Archer produced a sustained period of aggressive fast bowling in both of Australia’s innings in the drawn second Test at Lord’s, felling both Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.
Smith suffered a delayed concussion after being hit on the neck and was later ruled out of the third match starting at Headingley on Thursday.
Labuschagne, who replaced Smith as test cricket’s first concussion substitution, was struck on the protective face grill of his helmet on his second ball.
Today Steve Smith injured by jofra Archer in 150 KM/H speed pic.twitter.com/vdZJymkQtA
— VENKATESH T S (@tsvenkat1604) August 18, 2019
But Langer says: “What we’re not going to do is get caught up in an emotional battle of who’s going to bowl the quickest bouncers.
“We’re here to win the Test match, not to see how many helmets we can hit.
“I’m sure the bouncer will still be part of every bowler’s armoury. If it helps us get batsmen out then we’ll use it. Otherwise we’ll keep sticking to the plan.”