Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes give a golden summer at Lord's the ending it deserves

SAM MORSHEAD AT LORD'S: Ticket-holders arrived expecting to see yet more history, and that is the result of the insanity that came before - the ricochet and the super over, the 38 all out and the atomic collision between Steve Smith and Jofra Archer

It’s a short walk to Paddington station from Lord’s - about a mile and a half winding past the canal boats in Little Venice and the town gardens that line Warwick Avenue.

Twenty-five minutes. Enough time to get the blood pumping and the mind whirring, not so long as to merit a trip on the Tube, and a perfect length to digest the events of the previous few hours; the wickets, the runs, the incidents that shaped the day. A sort of psychological defrag, if you will, before the rush to make the 21.13 back home.

How important that stroll has been this summer, this crazy cricket summer.

How valuable that time has been to figure out the whos and the whys, the hows and the what the hells; to take breath, take stock and take a moment to reflect on the brilliance and bewilderment delivered by some of Lord’s most memorable matches.

Because, for whatever reason, the famous old ground has delivered in 2019. Repeatedly. Reliably. Unfathomably. As if suddenly afflicted by a strange Mayan curse.

Ticket-holders arrived in their thousands on Sunday expecting to see yet more history, and that is the result of the insanity that came before - the ricochet and the super over, the 38 all out and the atomic collision between Steve Smith and Jofra Archer.

There is much to be bemused by when it comes to the conventions and traditions of Marylebone Cricket Club, but this year its house has hosted one heck of a party.

Ultimately, on day five of this second Test, there was not quite the box-office ending the capacity crowd craved - nearly, but not quite.

Australia wrestled their way through 48 overs across the final two sessions to secure a draw with four wickets still intact. Reading the scorecard, it might look to be a relatively mundane end. Since when have scorecards told the full story?

There was history - the first concussion replacement in Test cricket making a most crucial half-century.

^{Jofra Archer was thrilling on his Test debut}

There were heroics - Ben Stokes’s first international hundred since that infamous night in Bristol, a counter-punching tour de force.

There was drama - a pulsating ending when the home side found late momentum thanks to catches both controversial and spectacular.

And of course there was Archer - England’s most impactful debutant since Kevin Pietersen 14 years ago, spearing arrows of fire under the nostrils of the Australian batsmen.

Even when the game seemed to be slipping sleepily towards a draw, and the sun was beginning to fall behind the Grandstand, most remained in their seats. You just have to these days. That’s what this summer has done.

That England were even in a position to attempt an unlikely victory was down to the colossal efforts of Stokes. The allrounder had come to the wicket on Saturday with England 64 for 3 and teetering. He left it, an hour before tea the next day, unbeaten on 115, his team in charge.

Stokes had been promoted to No.5 for this innings, and there is a good weight of evidence in support of him moving even higher. He is England’s form batsman, perhaps technically bettered only by Joe Root, and he has developed a remarkable ability to switch between gears on demand.

It should not be easy facing Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon on a three-and-a-half-day-old track yet Stokes barely seemed troubled as he shimmied down the wicket to drive through the covers, and picked balls of reasonable length off middle stump and into the crowd.

Two gigantic slog sweeps off Lyon landed in practically the same seat in the Mound Stand as the strike off Trent Boult which edged England closer to parity in that extraordinary World Cup final.

He had been given lives on Saturday evening but on Sunday he was flawless, barring one unfortunate blow to a sensitive region which he detailed for viewers back home via the stump mic. A very different kind of all-by-ball commentary.

This has been his summer, just as it has been Archer’s.

There was genuine giddiness in the stalls when Archer was thrown the new ball by Root at the start of Australia’s second innings, an understanding of the generational talent in our midst.

He did not hit the dizzying speeds of that heart-stopping exchange with Smith, but still his first spell was sensational. Moving the ball at speed in either direction, and being rid of David Warner and Usman Khawaja to give England hope.

When Steve Smith’s substitute, Marnus Labuschagne, arrived at the crease, he was greeted with a 91.6mph snorter that cannoned off the batsman’s grille. Labuschagne was floored, and Lord’s held its breath once more, but only momentarily. Soon he was on his feet, the gum being chewed with more determination.

That Labuschagne fought through that rocky introduction and weighed anchor, especially after Jack Leach pinned Cameron Bancroft lbw just after tea, was critical to Australia’s survival.

The pursuit of 267 in 48 overs was always unlikely - against a rested Archer and shorn of their top order, it was nigh-on impossible.

In the circumstances, then, Labuschagne could only play one way - bunker down and wait for it to all pass over. Easier said than done against this languid phenom from Barbados.

^{Ben Stokes reached a first international century since that infamous night in Bristol in 2017}

But he bunkered, and he buried his feet in the sand, and he waved under and around Archer’s shorter ball like a skyscraper in an earthquake.

He made 59 gritty runs, sharing in a stand of 85 for the fourth wicket with Travis Head - who played an innings of equal obduracy. And it seemed the match was beyond England.

Nah. No way. Not here. Not at Lord’s. Not in this arena of the unscriptable.

Labuschagne had a moment of batsman’s block, tried to sweep out of the rough, slapped the ball into short leg's backside and up to midwicket, where a diving Root claimed the catch. TV replays confused the matter, and Labuschagne was unhappy to be given out.

There was nothing debatable about the dismissal of Matthew Wade, however, caught at short leg, before Tim Paine slapped Archer aerially to square leg and Joe Denly flew through the air like an electrocuted possum to hold a quite remarkable catch.

That left England with half a dozen overs to take four wickets and, with light dying and therefore Archer not permitted to bowl, it proved too much.

Still, as Jack Leach bowled the final over of the day, at twenty-two minutes past seven, floodlights glaring and evening wind blowing, more than half the stadium remained, still gripped to every ball, still unpacking everything they had seen.

That’s what the walk is for, folks. And it’s time to make the trip for the final time this summer.

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