England’s star pacer Jofra Archer acknowledges he may not be able to deal with any further injury concerns but hopes to be fit to play in front of his family for the Three Lions’ opening T20 World Cup match in Barbados. Archer has struggled with fitness issues since making his international debut in 2019, but he is on the mend and intends to play in June’s T20 World Cup in the United States and his native Caribbean. The seamer is unsure whether he will make the mega event, having last played competitively 11 months ago due to a recurrent stress fracture in his right elbow, but he insists that avoiding any setbacks is critical.
Archer has suffered significant mental and physical consequences, and he understands that another breakdown may be too much.
“It’s been a while and honestly, I don’t know if I’ve got another stop-start year in me. That’s the truth, I don’t know if I’ve got another one. I haven’t played cricket for a whole 12 months as yet. Last year I played from January to May. I think the year before that, I played maybe one or two games for Sussex, so you know I’ve had a whole year of nothing,” Archer told the 4Cast’s Athlete’s Voice podcast as quoted by Sky Sports
“I really do want to be in the team. I really do want to be playing back at home… I’d love my family and my dogs at that first game back. I haven’t played for England at all this year, so I think it would be really fitting if that could happen,” he said.
England have taken a cautious approach to his current return, withdrawing him from the Indian Premier League (IPL) and keeping him out of Test cricket till next year. Instead, they intend to unleash him on familiar territory: the West Indies, where they will attempt to defend their 20-over crown. He shares the ambition but refuses to count on it.
“Come the first game in June I really do want to be in the team. The last two years have been really stop-start, so I just think that you know, everyone’s going to just take it a bit easy,” he said.
“If I’m ready then fine, happy days, but if I’m not they’re still supporting me. Worst-case scenario, I don’t really want to think about this, but even if I don’t make it to the World Cup for whatever reason, there’s still the T20 Blast, there’s still The Hundred. There’s still cricket that I haven’t got a chance to play in the last couple of years, so as much as I want to play in the World Cup, if it doesn’t happen for whatever reason, at least I still know I could be somewhat active,” Archer said.
Reigning champions England will begin their title defence on June 4 at Kensington Oval in Barbados against Scotland.
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