Jofra Archer returned from injury to represent his former school side in Barbados on Sunday without the knowledge of England management.
After spending 18 months on the sidelines with elbow and back injuries, Archer made his return in January and featured in four ODIs and three T20Is during England’s tours of South Africa and Bangladesh.
However, he suffered a recurrence of a stress fracture in his elbow while representing Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League earlier this year, causing him to spend another long period out of action.
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Having missed out on England’s Cricket World Cup squad, he was invited to train with the team last week, as their limited-overs tour of the West Indies began with a 2-1 ODI series defeat.
Upon his return to Barbados, where he was born and raised, Archer took part in bowling drills on Friday as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) looks to manage his rehabilitation.
However, just a few hours before flying back to the UK on Sunday evening, Archer turned out for his old school side Foundation, claiming figures of 4-18 on the first day of their three-day match against Lords in Division One of the Barbados Cricket Association League.
It appears the 28-year-old did so without England’s knowledge, with director of men’s cricket Rob Key surprised to hear of his outing when speaking to reporters on Monday.
Addressing Archer’s return after announcing England’s Test squad for next year’s tour of India, Key said: “I’m not aware of that. I’ll find out.”
📍 Barbados
👋 @JofraArcher pic.twitter.com/5jHTcV03i5— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 11, 2023
England are being cautious about Archer’s return and have barred him from featuring in the IPL next year as they look to ease him back ahead of the T20 World Cup in June.
Expanding on Archer’s recovery, Key added: “Jofra was bowling out here [in training]. As you often see with Jofra, he rocks up, ends up bowling 95 miles an hour and he looks like he’s an absolute genius.
“But we’re just going to take it slow with him. We don’t want to put any sort of deadlines on him. That’s what we’ve done in the past, we’re trying to learn from what we’ve done in the past with Jofra.
“Now we’re taking control of him coming back. We’re not going to say, ‘you need to get back for this part here’. From what they’ve said, an elbow is a complicated place to have an injury.
“Jofra was keen to go into the IPL auction but we just feel like the best way to do this now is just for us to be in control of it. There’s no commitment either way, and we can then just bring you back.
“If it takes an extra couple of months, but he gets another couple of years out of his career and gets back fully… I think he’s worth his weight in gold.”
