Jofra Archer bowls back-to-back beamers to Anrich Nortje on Day 2 of Boxing Day Test

15 wickets, 260 runs, a typical English collapse, an overall lead of 175 runs for the hosts and the tale of two ‘unintended beamers’ by England’s Jofra Archer at the tale-end of the proceedings- Day 02 at the SuperSport Park in Centurion between England and South Africa had all the ingredients to whet the appetite of Test cricket lovers, especially the purists.

The day started with the South African lower-order batsmen trying to get as many runs for their side in the first innings and it finished with the hosts firmly in the driving seat with an overall lead of 175 runs. In between, the world witnessed an English collapse, which even by their own standards was appalling, to say the least as they lost their last seven wickets for 39 runs, to give the hosts a significant headstart at the start of the second innings.

The Proteas lost four wickets in the final session but the moment of the day that has left everyone talking about it, was when Jofra Archer, in an attempt to bowl the knuckle-ball, proceeded to deliver back-to-back beamers. While there is no doubt that it was unintentional, clause 41.7 of the ICC‘s Test-playing conditions dictate that any bowler who has delivered two such balls should be suspended from bowling for the rest of the innings.

Vernon Philander was left fuming at umpire’s decision to not ban Jofra Archer

But the on-field umpires appeared to rescind the no-ball call, on the logic that the second ball was actually dipping into the batsman and should be called a no-ball instead of beamer, something which left Vernon Philander and the other South African cricketers including captain Faf du Plessis and coach Mark Boucher, fuming

“If you’re at square-leg and you call no-ball you’ve got to stand your ground. At no time did they actually cancel it. For me, it’s plain and simple: we’re playing a game and we’re setting an example for the rest of the people coming into this game. You’ve got to make the right call. That’s why it’s called the purest format. Are we going to tolerate it at another game or are we going to put a stop to it right here? ” Philander said as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

Here’s the video: