Injury-hit fast bowler is in contention to play for England when they attempt to defend their title in June
Jofra Archer appears on course for a place in England’s T20 World Cup squad and is bowling with “exceptional pace”, according to his Sussex coach, Paul Farbrace.
Archer, who turned 29 on Monday, has been dogged by injury since 2019, his breakthrough summer in international cricket, and has not played a competitive fixture for 11 months following a recurrence of his long-running right elbow injury.
He joined Sussex on their pre-season tour to Bangalore and got involved in a friendly fixture, and has continued bowling in training with the likes of England’s Ollie Robinson and the West Indies’ Jayden Seales since returning.
Archer remains centrally-contracted by England, so is under directives from their medical staff and Rob Key, the managing director. Farbrace says Archer, who has not played red-ball cricket since 2021, will be shielded from Championship action after the T20 World Cup – which is in June – as his workloads are managed. James Kirtley, Sussex’s bowling coach, says Archer is bowling at similar speeds as he was three years ago.
“Last week in practice there was a spell where Oliver had bowled, Jayden bowled and then Jofra came into the middle and bowled – and he came marching out and bowled exceptionally quick,” said Farbrace.
“Oli Carter, it went viral him [Archer] breaking his stump in the pre-season game, unfortunately he had his stump knocked over again by Jofra last week and he will testify that he’s bowling quick.
“At the moment the plan is very clear from Keysy that they’re getting him ready for the T20 World Cup. All I can say is what I have seen, he came with us to India and from what we’ve seen in pre-season so far, he’s bowling with exceptional pace, he’s batting really nicely.
“He was brilliant in India, to have on the trip was fantastic, he joined in and did everything as well as you could have expected and was an excellent role model around the team. But my understanding is they are looking to get him ready for the T20 World Cup, we won’t see him in a red-ball shirt before the World Cup but let’s see what happens when that’s been played.”
Archer could make a comeback for Sussex in second XI T20 matches ahead of the Vitality Blast, before playing for England against Pakistan in May in fixtures that represent final preparation before their World Cup defence.
