Jofra Archer has been left “distraught” after yet another injury nightmare saw him ruled out of England’s entire Ashes summer with a new stress fracture in his right elbow.
Archer has not played Test cricket for more than two years but had high hopes of returning to face Australia after a long and arduous journey that has seen him undergo several bouts of surgery on his elbow, as well as a stress fracture of the back which derailed his planned comeback last year.
But he is now facing another extended period on the sidelines and there must now be grave doubts as to whether the 28-year-old will ever again be available for the demands of the five-day format.
He made his first tentative steps towards full recovery earlier this year, featuring in England’s limited-overs tours to South Africa and Bangladesh, but his body has once again broken down following a stint in the Indian Premier League.
Archer appeared just five times for Mumbai Indians, bowling 20 overs in total, and made a mid-tournament visit to Belgium for further treatment on his elbow.
He reacted angrily on social media when news of that trip was reported in the media and managed to bowl at express pace after returning to the IPL. But he was sent home injured soon afterwards and England’s worst fears have now been realised.
He was seen as a key figure in ruffling Australian feathers, as he did during his Test debut at Lord’s in 2019 when an unforgettable duel with Steve Smith left the batter concussed by an unplayable bouncer.
Rob Key, director of men’s cricket at the England and Wales Cricket Board, said: “He’s got another stress fracture in an elbow that’s been trouble for a long time.
“I’m hoping at some point Jofra deserves a bit of luck with this, because the poor lad is pretty distraught about what’s happened and it’s only just happened recently.
“You just hope that luck turns for him at some point as I’m sure it will. I’m sure we will see Jofra back to his best and winning games for England, whatever the format.”
Whether he has a chance of featuring in October’s ODI World Cup, helping defend the title he delivered in 2019 by closing out the super over in the final, remains to be seen.
Archer’s stellar abilities with the white ball, allied to his long history of fitness problems, mean there have been long-standing worries over his Test career.
Key made it clear he has no concerns around the player’s desire to succeed with the red ball, but accepted it was impossible to predict how the future will now play out for him.
“Sometimes you get the feeling that the people think he’s going to go down the white-ball road and he’s not going to be interested in Test cricket, that there’s other things on his mind that come first. That’s absolutely not the case,” he said.
“He is desperate to play all forms of cricket. He’s been desperate to play Test cricket as well and I hope that he gets the chance to do that.
“But at the moment, all cricket’s been too much for his body to cope with and we need to get past that. You just hope that down the line he will overcome this, that body will get robust enough to be able to deal with the rigours of everything. I wouldn’t sit here now and rule anything out.”
It seems fanciful to think his modest workload in the IPL has forced an injury that would not have happened had be been playing first-class cricket with Sussex, where he would have bowled more in a solitary LV= County Championship fixture.
Even so, Key promised to pore over how England managed his return to playing over recent months.
“We’re going to look at every single thing we’ve done,” he said.
“Everything we’ve done has been what we thought was the right thing for the player first – not actually for anyone else – to say what’s the best way for him to be able to have the best career he can possibly have.
“The fact is that he’s not been able to bowl more than four more overs without feeling any sort of pain so, regardless of the way that we’ve gone, whether it’s been right or wrong, I don’t think I’d change anything.”
Archer played the last of his 13 Tests against India in February 2021 and went on to have two separate operations to try to resolve the stress fracture in his elbow.
He has since missed two T20 World Cups, including England’s victory in Australia in October, as well as the previous Ashes tour Down Under in 2021-22.
Windies to test T20 World Cup readiness against South Africa, Australia in Jamaica and T&T; final squad to be named this week
With the ICC Men’s Twenty 20 World Cup now just about a month away, Darren Sammy and his West Indies team will up the tempo on preparations, before testing their readiness for the June 1-29 global showpiece, with a final warm-up match against Australia in Trinidad and Tobago.
Sammy’s final squad, which is expected to be named sometime this week, will be one of nine teams to travel to the Trinidad and Tobago in May for eight warm-up matches, four of which will take place at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, while the other four is scheduled for the historic Queen’s Park Oval. The teams will arrive in twin island republic on May 21.
The revelation came from Cricket West Indies’s (CWI) CEO Johnny Grave during the recently-concluded CARICOM conference on West Indies cricket themed ‘Reinvigorating West Indies Cricket’, in Port of Spain.
Grave explained that the final West Indies squad will not convene in full until they travel to Jamaica at the end of May to engage South Africa in three warm-up contests. However, he pointed out that there will be a camp in Antigua prior, which will involve members of the final squad, who are not plying their trade in the Indian Premier League.
From Jamaica, the Rovman Powell-captained squad will then travel to Trinidad and Tobago for the clash against 50-over World Cup winners Australia, ahead of the tournament to be hosted in the Caribbean and United States.
West Indies, the 2012 and 2016 champions, are hunting a third T20 World Cup title.
“We’re going to have a week-long preparation camp in Antigua from May 12, before heading to Jamaica. We’re then going to leave Jamaica and come here to Trinidad and Tobago for a week’s preparation, including playing at the historic Queen’s Park Oval on May 30, in an evening fixture against one of the tournament favourites Australia,” Grave shared.
“That will probably be one of the only games in the warm-up schedule that will be ticketed, and we certainly hope that the fans here in Trinidad, and particularly those in Port of Spain, will come out and rally behind the West Indies in that warm-up match, which is the final game we’ll play before we head to Guyana for the opening game on June 2,” he added.
West Indies, who are drawn in Group C alongside New Zealand, Afghanistan, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, will open against the latter at the Guyana National Stadium on June 2.
Grave urged fans to come out and rally behind the West Indies outfit in their push to start the tournament on a high.
“Making sure we have a huge party in Georgetown, and we get off to a winning start (will be crucial). We all know in these global tournaments, confidence and momentum are important and we can think of nothing better than starting with a victory in Guyana and ending it in Barbados on June 29 with a similar victory,” Grave said.
Archer included in England's T20 World Cup squad
Jofra Archer has been recalled to England’s provisional squad for the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States this June.
The 29-year-old, who has not played competitive cricket since May due to a long-term elbow injury, could make his first appearance for the international team since a tour of Bangladesh in March 2023.
Archer has been limited to just 15 T20Is since his England debut in 2019 and missed their 2022 World Cup success in Australia due to the same injury.
There is a recall for fellow fast-bowler Chris Jordan, who last played for England against New Zealand in September 2023, at the expense of Chris Woakes.
Uncapped Lancashire left-arm spinner, Tom Hartley, is also named in Jos Buttler’s 15-man squad, which includes nine players from the 2022 World Cup.
England will play a four-match T20 series against Pakistan at Headingley in May before they begin their T20 World Cup title defence against Scotland in Barbados on 4 June.
England’s provisional squad:
Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, To Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingston, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
IPL: Salt stars as KKR get back to winning ways
Phil Salt inspired Kolkata Knight Riders to get back to winning ways in the Indian Premier League as they beat Delhi Capitals with an emphatic seven-wicket victory.
The Capitals had surpassed 220 runs in each of their last two matches, but their chances of doing so again were dented early on, Prithvi Shaw walking for 13 before the in-form Jake Fraser-McGurk followed before the end of the third over, his flat drive being taken by Venkatesh Iyer near the boundary for 12.
Varun Chakaravarthy posted figures of 3-16 as Kolkata prevented their visitors from mounting any kind of response, with only Kuldeep Yadav's unbeaten 35 off 26 balls helping them crawl beyond the 150 mark and finish their innings on 153-9.
Salt started brilliantly for Kolkata, plundering his way to a half-century within the first six overs of the chase. He was bowled by Axar Patel, but only after the openers had raced to 79-0, with Sunil Narine and Rinku Singh dismissed shortly after.
Shreyas and Venkatesh Iyer ticked off the remaining runs with ease, securing the win for Kolkata with 21 balls left.
Data Debrief: A sprinkle of Salt
England all-rounder Will Jacks smashed an unbeaten century off just 41 balls to propel Royal Challengers Bangalore to victory over Gujarat Titans on Sunday, and his compatriot Salt followed up with a stunning knock this time around.
He reached 52 in just 26 balls, with a further two boundaries taking him to 60 and seeing Kolkata reach 79 by the end of the powerplay. His knock included seven fours and five sixes.
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