‘Don’t complain when you bowl s***’: What Stokes and Archer said in heated clash revealed

England’s hopes of reclaiming the Urn are in peril and skipper Ben Stokes was steaming at a plan gone wrong on Thursday morning, but the Jofra Archer the Aussies were anticipating has finally arrived in the Ashes.

After bowling beautifully on the opening day in Adelaide, Archer was able to wrap up the Australian tail on the way to securing his best Test figures in six years, but only after engaging in a spirited discussion with Stokes early on the second day.

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While the 30-year-old snared his first five wicket haul since a Boxing Day outing against South Africa at Centurion in 2019, Archer and Brydon Carse leaked runs late in the Aussie innings to the despair of Stokes.

Mitchell Starc, who recorded consecutive Test half-centuries for the first time in his career, crunched Archer for two off-side fours in the opening over of the day to set the tone for the morning.

After smashing Brydon Carse to the boundary twice more in the following over, Starc then smote Archer to the boundary once more before the English star clean bowled him with a superb delivery.

But as Starc, who struck nine fours in his 54 from 79 balls, was making his way from Adelaide Oval, cameras caught Stokes and Archer in a spicy exchange.

Fox Cricket analyst Mark Waugh was heavily critical of the failure by England to deploy a third man this morning, but it is possible Archer was not bowling according to plans in his salvo to the Aussie tail.

“That was a breakdown in communication,” Waugh said on Kayo Sports coverage of the Ashes.

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“Whether they got plans and haven’t executed the plans, or Jofra’s saying I need a third man, (Stokes has said), ‘Nah. that is where I wanted you to bowl.’”

It appears the field placings were indeed to blame as lip-readers figured out what Stokes said to Archer.

“Mate, don’t complain about the field placings when you bowl s***,” Stokes appeared to tell his teammate.

He then seemed to add “bowl on the stumps and look what happens” before also appearing to tell his leading quick to “shut the f*** up” when he fired back.

Archer started the day with figures of 3-29 from 16 overs and ultimately finished with 5-53 from 20.2 overs after trapping Nathan Lyon LBW for nine with another quality delivery.

But Australia was able to add another 45 runs in just over eight overs to push their total to 372, with Aussie great Adam Gilchrist pondering whether the exchange demonstrated the stress Stokes is feeling.

“That strong discussion between Archer and Stokes, that’s intriguing,” he said.

“You just feel like Ben Stokes is teetering right on the edge. (He) spoke about his trust and faith with the players, his belief and trying to instil that and drag them with him. But it just feels like he is right on the edge.”

The wastefulness on Thursday morning aside, the performance from Archer hearkened back to his stunning arrival in Test cricket against Australia in the 2019 Ashes and drew an ovation from the Adelaide Oval crowd as he walked from the ground.

A lightning quick bowler, Archer secured 22 wickets in four Tests against Australia, which included a career-best 6-45 from 17 overs that helped England clinch a thriller in Leeds.

But the injury-plagued bowler managed just 11 Tests between that series and his arrival in Australia last month and had struggled to maintain his pace and consistency this summer leading into the third Test.

He was superb in the first innings in Perth but was notably down on pace as Travis Head took England’s attack to task with a matchwinning century in the second innings.

In Brisbane he was criticised for saving his quickest spell until the final stages, which prompted Steve Smith to sledge him during a feisty finish at the Gabba.

While gifted a couple of wickets on Wednesday, he bowled well as his fellow members of the English attack struggled to rein in Australia. This did not surprise Fox Cricket great Brett Lee, who has been a critic of the tourists’ preparation for the series.

In a chat with foxsports.com.au leading into the third Test, Lee predicted the 30-year-old would put his best foot forward at Adelaide Oval because he now had a grounding to do so having played two Tests.

“I’d love to see Archer have that intent throughout the whole Test match, to charge in with that pace because he can do it,” Lee said.

“I think he will be able to do it, hopefully, in the next Test because of the hard work and the miles that he has now put into his legs.

“I can understand why people are frustrated in England. I get where people are being critical. I know it’s hard work, but I’d love to see him do that consistently, and as I said, I think Archer will be in a better position physically to do that because of the work in the first two Tests.”

His body of work in Adelaide, a few lapse deliveries aside on Thursday morning, demonstrated Lee was on the money with his prediction as Archer secured his third five wicket haul against Australia, earning praise from Michael Vaughan.

“It is the fourth ‘five fa’ for Jofra Archer. He has been magnificent for England,” the ex-England captain said.

“He has been magnificent under pressure. A lot of people were (wondering) if he could bowl with the pace we saw in that second innings in Brisbane. Well, he has delivered.”

Lee noted that Archer, whose best figures of 6-45 came in the thriller at Leeds in 2019, was able to find the right line and length to challenge Australia for much of the innings.

“He bowled beautifully and deserved the ‘five fa’. He pitched the ball up,” Lee said.

“He bowled with good pace. He looked better for those two Test matches of preparation and it looked as though he got the rhythm right.

“This is a special moment. Anytime you get a ‘five fa’ and can raise the ball, it is well done. He has toiled hard and it has been hot conditions … and he thoroughly deserved the ‘five fa’. Well bowled.”