Jofra Archer lit up the home of cricket as England won the World Cup in the summer.
He was given a hero’s welcome at the home of football on Sunday, as he watched Jacksonville take on Houston.
But despite coming dressed in Jaguars’ quarterback Gardner Minshew’s No.15 shirt, England’s 96mph bowler could not inspire the Florida team to victory as they were soundly beaten and left with little hope of reaching the playoffs.
DeShaun Watson threw for 201 yards and two touchdowns for the Texans while DeAndre Hopkins caught eight passes, one of them for the game-clinching touchdown.
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The Jaguars arrived in London with a lot of promise but left empty-handed and with their season in disarray, having lost five of their nine games this season.
They have seven games left and will probably need to win six of them to have any chance of a place in the January playoffs.
But while the Jags’ record fell to 4-5, Houston improved to 6-3 and remain well in contention in the race for February’s Super Bowl.
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Carlos Hyde ran for 160 yards but had the embarrassing moment of the day when he exploded out of the blocks on a 58-yard run down the left sideline only to drop the ball two yards from the goal line on what should have been a 60-yard touchdown run.
It made no difference in the end as, with Archer looking, the Jaguars were stumped for answers and left facing a long flight home.
