Jofra Archer is back - and his send-off to Rishabh Pant is worth any fine he could get

For the send-off he gave to Rishabh Pant, they could probably fine Jofra Archer ANY percentage of his match fee and it would be worth it.

A couple of balls earlier, Pant had the audacity to dance a couple of steps down the wicket and swat England’s fastest bowler to the pavilion boundary. One-handed.

Moments later, Pant’s off-stump was cartwheeling its way towards the champagne tent on the Nursery Ground and Archer was having a word or two.

It was one of THE moments of the English cricketing summer. If you thought Archer was back when he took a wicket with the third ball of his first Test appearance in four years, then this was stump-smashing confirmation.

This was the type of ball he is capable of bowling. Too quick, too skiddy, too accurate for one of the world ’s best batsmen. Archer took 3-55 in India’s second innings and 2-52 in their first - good figures without being spectacular.

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But after such a long absence, and after so many physical issues, this Test was really a sort of pipe-opener for a 30-year-old with relatively few red-ball miles on the clock.

In many ways, this was a loosener of a match for Archer, his workload being managed with a view to long-term plans. But he got through almost 40 overs - more than he thought he would bowl, he would later admit - seemingly without any physical problems.

It has gone without saying for some considerable time that a fit and firing Archer is an asset England will desperately need in Australia this winter.

And the next two Tests against India, at Old Trafford and The Oval, should mean he regains every trace of Test sharpness. But it is not as though he looked too rusty in his spells in this match.

In fact, his athleticism and dexterity were on glorious display when he took a brilliant return catch to see off Washington Sundar, who had insisted on Sunday night that India would “definitely” win the game.

It seems that Washington can tell a lie. For good measure, 25-year-old Sundar had even given a time for his team's triumph … “just after lunch”.

As it happened, the outcome of a final day that would be deemed enthralling by Test romantics but painstaking by Test sceptics, did not arrive until after a tea that had actually been put back half an hour.

And it was unsurprising that the final act came from Mohammed Siraj, the Indian bowler who actually WAS fined a percentage of his match fee for a celebration in the face-grille of Ben Duckett.

Siraj bottom-edged a Shoaib Bashir delivery onto his leg-stump - the bail falling off in instalments - and was distraught. But he was probably also still in serious discomfort after being hit by an Archer bouncer in the previous over.

Unsurprisingly, Archer showed scant concern for his victim’s well-being as Siraj leapt about, making no attempt to disguise his pain. Put that cameo alongside the image of Pant’s stump doing back-flips and you get the picture.

Jofra Archer is well and truly on his way back.