England captain Joe Root believes Jofra Archer can have a similar effect on the Ashes series as former Australia quick Mitchell Johnson did in the battle for the urn in 2013/14.

Despite being 1-0 down after two Tests, Root believes all the momentum is with his side going into the third match at Headingley on Thursday, thanks to the addition of Archer.

The 24-year-old debutant caused the Australian batsmen all sorts of problems in the drawn second Test at Lord’s and put Steve Smith out of the match after concussing the former skipper after hitting him in the neck with a brutish delivery.

Smith, who has tormented the English bowlers in the past two series, is battling to be available for Headingley following the blow from Archer on Saturday.

Steve Smith moments is struck  by a Jofra Archer delivery on day four. Photo: Getty 

Johnson terrorised the England batsmen to help Australia regain the Ashes they had lost just five months earlier in a stunning series that saw him take 37 wickets in a 5-0 win.

Archer clocked up speeds of more than 154km/h at Lord’s and Root said he will loom as a potent threat to the tourists.

“He has come in and had a massive impact and added a dynamic to our bowling group,” Root said.

He has given Australia something to think about and it is really impressive to see someone come in on Test debut and shake up things and live up to the hype.

“It makes for some very interesting last few games.

“He makes things happen when not many others in the world of cricket can.

“He has such a unique action and way of bowling, and his natural pace is always going to be in the game on any surface.

“With the other guys around him it makes a tasty combination, which is why we always felt we were in the game. He has had a big workload this week and we have to make sure he is 100 per cent ready to go at Headingley.”

England was unable to get the final four wickets it needed for an unlikely win after setting Australia a target of 267 from 48 overs in a session-and-half. Root said his side would head to Yorkshire confident of levelling the series.

“We threw everything at them,” he said. “We gave ourselves a good amount of overs to create things.

“Sometimes you need everything going at you and all in all it was a fantastic effort.

“To get us to that score we knew it would be very difficult for Australia to get any sort of result out of the game.

“We wanted a big response from the group. It felt like we put them under huge amounts of pressure.

“It was really pleasing to see us driving for the win from a position that was difficult.”

-AAP