Archer shines with six as Australia collapse
Archer and England enjoyed a rampant evening session as Australia's final eight wickets fell for just 43 runs. Archer was at the heart of the collapse, finishing the innings with figures of 6/45.
With the Lord’s Test heavily affected by rain, it was a case of déjà vu for both sides in the morning as the start of play was delayed due to the poor weather.
Joe Root opted to bowl with overhead conditions looking in his side’s favour. Archer continued his excellent form by dismissing Ashes debutant Marcus Harris cheaply, the left-hander’s outside edge found with Jonny Bairstow doing the rest behind the stumps.
Rain returned to force another break in play, and lunch was taken before the restart. Another Australian wicket followed soon after, Usman Khawaja strangled down the leg-side for eight by Stuart Broad.
Ashes 2019: 3rd Test, day 1 – Highlights
David Warner – batting with four single-figure scores in the series behind him – battled through a tough introduction to get himself and Australia ticking along, as England began to find life a whole lot tougher.
Another couple of interruptions arrived as both the weather and bad light proved to be frustrating, but the Australian batting pair found rhythm. Warner went to his first half-century since his return to Test cricket, and Labuschagne, mightily impressive at Lord’s after replacing Steve Smith as a concussion substitute, once again looked right at home in the heat of an Ashes battle, wristy throughout the leg side and perfectly balanced playing down the ground.
The pair took Australia to 136/2 from 25/2, and it looked as if Root’s call to put Australia in was backfiring. But then Archer was summoned, and within just a few overs England were smiling once more.
The paceman found Warner’s outside edge to get things rolling before Broad had the ball jag away to clip the top of Travis Head’s off stump: a simply sublime delivery. England then found fortune when, seven balls later, Matthew Wade’s thigh pad helped deflect the ball on to the stumps.
In the middle of all that carnage, Labuschagne advanced to his third Test half-century. Skipper Tim Paine resisted for 11 but was shown to be lbw on review from a ball that nipped back in from Chris Woakes. Archer then had James Pattinson dismissed for two to give him his fourth, and Pat Cummins helped him get to a landmark moment: a first five-wicket haul in international cricket.
Labuschagne's excellent innings finished tamely, a full toss from Ben Stokes pinning him lbw, but it had to be Archer who finished proceedings, removing Nathan Lyon for one to make it another day to remember in a short international career that has already been filled with so many highlights.