England head coach Brendon McCullum has described the prospect of Jofra Archer returning to the Test side as “hugely exciting”.
England suffered a 336-run defeat to India in the second Test at Edgbaston last week, following phenomenal displays from Shubman Gill and Akash Deep.
Gill became the first batsman to post scores of 250 and 150 in the same Test, while Akash took 10 wickets in the match, six of them in England's second innings.
England’s seamers struggled on the flat surface, with Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue and Ben Stokes combining for just three wickets in India’s second innings.
Archer, who has not played a red-ball match for his country since February 2021, has trained with the England team in recent weeks and McCullum believes he is ready to play.
“He'll certainly be available for selection,” McCullum said of Archer, who has been hampered by elbow and back injuries in recent years.
“Our seamers have gone two Tests on the spin and we've got a short turnaround before we head down to HQ.
“We'll let the dust settle on this one, but Jofra is looking fit, he's looking strong, he's looking ready to go, and he'll come into our calculations. It's hugely exciting.”
Another seam option returning from injury for the Lord’s Test is Gus Atkinson.
The fast bowler, who injured his hamstring against Zimbabwe earlier in the year, has taken 19 wickets in two matches at the stadium and also has a century to his name there, versus Sri Lanka last August.
McCullum added: “We need to have a good look at Gus. We'll just see how the dust settles on this.
“The guys had quite a heavy workload. When you chase a bit of leather, you obviously go pretty deep into your spells as well.
"So we'll see how they are, and then we'll make the decision when we get down the road.”
Jamie Smith’s batting position has also been called into question, with many wondering if he should be moved up the order after his scores of 184 not out and 88 from number seven in the second Test.
However, McCullum insists Smith's role will not change for the third Test.
“He does look world-class,” said McCullum.
“When we made the decision to bring Jamie Smith into Test cricket, we were hopeful that he'd be able to have that sort of impact, obviously in the middle, but also being able to have the power that he's got with the tail too.
“You wouldn't have done that to [Adam] Gilchrist, so I don't think we should do that to Smith.”
