Father Time, stooped over a wicket on his vantage point above the Mound Stand, is facing towards Maida Vale.
The clock beneath him reads 2.45pm when Jofra Archer wanders over from mid-off, removes his cap and hands it to umpire Sharfuddoula.
A cheer of anticipation rings around Lord’s. An elderly man in the lower level of the Grandstand, who has been berating Chris Woakes during the first over of India’s innings, which costs 13 runs, stills and locks his hands behind his head as Archer walks back towards his mark at the Pavilion End.
It has been more than four years since Archer last bowled a ball in Test cricket, against India in Ahmedabad in February 2021, four years that have been damned by serious elbow and back injuries and agonies of uncertainty and the torture of wondering what might have been.
He was 25 when we last saw him in the longer format of the game, about to enter his prime, fresh from delivering the Super Over that won England the World Cup here in July 2019, a player who seemed destined to be the spearhead of the attack for as long as he wished. How different would he be now to that player?
Framed by that august pavilion and its denizens, sweltering in the heat, Archer begins his run-up and gathers speed before unleashing his first ball at Yashasvi Jaiswal.
A cheer of anticipation rings around Lord’s as Jofra Archer hands his cap to the umpire upon his return to bowling
It has been more than four years since Archer last bowled a ball in Test cricket, against India in Ahmedabad in February 2021
England have been missing the sense of danger and pace that a now fit-again Archer brings
It squares up India’s accomplished young opener but he gets his bat on it and pushes it into the off side.
England have grown used to bleeding runs in this series. They have had to accept the impotence of their bowling attack and chasing huge totals. Already, there is a different energy about this over. The ground starts to come alive.
Archer, 30, glides in for his second ball. Jaiswal plays at it outside the line of off stump but the pace and the movement beat him and the ball whistles through to Jamie Smith, who catches it somewhere just below his midriff.
Now the crowd is agog. The big screen between the Tavern Stand and the Pavilion shows Ben Stokes smiling. This is what England have been missing. We can already feel it. This sense of danger that Archer brings. This pace. This sense that we are watching a duel between a batter and a bowler.
As he runs up for his third delivery, the crowd claps and cheers and hollers as he quickens his stride. Archer arrows the ball at Jaiswal’s stumps and it beats him for speed. The ball finds his leading edge and flies towards Harry Brook at second slip. Lord’s holds its breath for a split second.
Brook takes the catch. The crowd erupts with joy. And Archer wheels away, his face full of elation. It is a moment of sheer release. A moment when four years of frustration and pain and worry fall away in one beautiful rush of catharsis.
Archer runs into the outstretched arms of Shoaib Bashir at backward square leg. And soon he is mobbed by the rest of his team-mates, who are celebrating and rejoicing and laughing at the glorious theatre of it all. His third ball after four years and now this. Only sport can do this.
The crowd erupts with joy as Harry Brook takes the catch for Archer to dismiss accomplished young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal
Archer wheels away, his face full of elation – it is a moment of sheer release for the bowler
Only sport can do this – batters are supposed to clear out bars, but Archer’s return is pure box-office
Eventually, Archer returns to his mark. Spectators who have taken a break from the heat after the end of England’s innings are thronging the walkways behind the Grandstand to try to get back to their seats to witness this.
Usually, it is batters who are supposed to clear out bars but Archer’s return is pure box-office.
A gasp goes around the ground. It shows that Archer’s wicket ball was measured at just shy of 90mph. Archer runs in for his fourth ball. More clapping, and even louder cheering. The new batter is Karun Nair, who is not in the best of form. He plays at the ball outside his off stump and misses it.
There is a fever inside this grand old arena now. Everyone is gripped. It is taking us back six years to when Archer made his Test debut here and engaged Steve Smith in what turned into a battle for survival for the former Australia skipper.
This over is a spectacle, too. It contains that element that England’s attack has often been missing since Archer’s injury woes began: fear. Fear and intimidation, those great friends of fast bowlers everywhere. Mark Wood can call on them, too. He has also been unlucky with injuries.
The big screen flashes up in big figures that Archer’s fourth ball was measured at 93mph. There is another gasp of delight and awe. The ground is in tumult. Archer runs in. The applause is even more raucous. Nair tries to fend the ball away to the off side but it squirts away towards midwicket.
One more ball of the over to go. The heat is unsparing but Archer is relishing every moment. Even when he was clean bowled by Jasprit Bumrah towards the end of England’s innings, he raised his eyes to the sky and smiled at the craft of his opponent.
He is back in the arena, back in the thick of it, back on the biggest stage, back in the hearts of the England fans who have been longing for his return. Nair gets behind his sixth ball and prods it nervously into the leg side.
The over is done. It is a wicket maiden. Archer turns and takes his cap from umpire Sharfuddoula. Up on his plinth, Father Time has turned to face St John’s Wood, but he is still removing the bails from his wicket.
