'Unbelievable' Archer primed for Ashes impact, says McCullum

Brendon McCullum expects Jofra Archer to be a "huge player" for England in Australia this winter and described the upcoming Ashes tour as "the biggest series of all of our lives". England's coach also hinted that Jacob Bethell still has time to force his way into their side for the first Test in Perth after his maiden hundred on Sunday.

Archer set up England's world-record thrashing of South Africa with a new-ball spell of 4 for 10 in seven overs in Southampton. He made his Test comeback against India in July, taking nine wickets in two appearances, and McCullum said that his injury-free summer has vindicated England's cautious approach with his return.

"That was an unbelievable spell," McCullum said. "It was box-office bowling…[It's] not just his pace, but his skill, his ability to shift it both ways and to test batters with the steep bounce he gets. He's a proper cricketer, hence why we've taken our time with him to make sure that we give him every chance to be in the biggest series of all of our lives.

"It's always a delicate balance. Sometimes you need to keep bowling and you need to keep ticking over. I think a lot of injuries happen when you almost down the tools completely, not that I really understand how that works. But we've just got to make sure we work to the plan.

"We've had a good plan with Jof over the last little while and he's rewarded us for the type of planning that we've had with performances like tonight. He's going to be a huge player when we get to Australia, as a number of others are. But I don't think we'll wrap him up [in cotton wool] per se. We'll just keep working with him on how he's going and work out what's best for him."

Bethell is likely to travel to Australia as England's spare batter but was in sparkling form against South Africa, following his 58 at Lord's with 110 off 82 balls in Southampton, and could yet put pressure on incumbent No. 3 Ollie Pope ahead of November's first Test in Perth. McCullum claimed that he does not yet have a team in his head for the series opener.

"We will work that out when we get to Australia," he said. "We've got a few other fish to fry before we get there. We've said about Jacob since we introduced him that he's got a huge future in front of him. He's very quickly taken to international cricket, and things have come really quickly for him as well.

"He's going to have some life: 21 years of age, and being able to play like he does… I want to celebrate the fact that his first ever professional hundred has been scored in the England jumper at the age of 21. I think [David] Gower's the only other one [to score an ODI hundred for England at 21], and he was a pretty good player. We'll see where Jacob ends up."

McCullum also said that Mark Wood and Ben Stokes are "progressing well" ahead of the Ashes, with England set to name their squad towards the end of September. Wood is set to play for Durham in the County Championship later this month, while Stokes is unlikely to play competitively before the first Test in Perth.

"Stokesy will be training his arse off as he always does, and making sure he gets as fit as what he possibly can… The last series we saw from Stokesy is probably the best series he's had as captain, so that's a good sign. We know that for us to be competitive down in Australia, a fit, firing and motivated Ben Stokes is going to give us every chance."