Jofra Archer, the enigmatic English fast bowler, has expressed his desire to represent his country at the upcoming T20 World Cup in the Caribbean. However, he has also cautioned that he may struggle to endure another “stop-start year” after battling persistent injuries over the past three years.
Archer has been sidelined since May 2023 due to an elbow injury, but the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is planning his return to international cricket during the four-match T20I series against Pakistan in late May, just before the World Cup. He is expected to be included in England’s provisional World Cup squad, which must be submitted to the ICC by May 1.
England will kick off their World Cup campaign at Kensington Oval in Barbados with matches against Scotland and Australia on June 4 and 8, respectively. Archer was born and raised on the island and has trained with England squads there on recent tours, but he has never played an international match there.
“I really do want to be in the team,” Archer said in an interview with The Athlete’s Voice by 4CAST. “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.”
Archer traveled to India last month with Sussex’s pre-season tour, which he described as a “good gauge” and a “valuable check” on his progress. Rob Key, England’s managing director, stated earlier this month that Archer had returned to the Caribbean to continue his rehabilitation, while also ruling him out of contention for Test cricket this summer.
“The last two years have been really stop-start, so I just think that everyone’s going to just take it a bit easy,” Archer said. “If I’m ready then fine, happy days. But if I’m not, they’re still supporting me until whenever I am ready.”
“Worst-case scenario, 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. 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 as well.”
Archer also discussed the impact of negative social media comments on his mental well-being during his time on the sidelines. “Everybody – honestly, everybody – has an opinion. It doesn’t matter what you do or how good you are, everyone will have a go at you at some point,” he said.
“Even now, any time England or my franchises post, all of the comments are – or if I post training clips, people are like: ‘He’ll probably be injured tomorrow.’ It’s just stupid comments like that… I really need people to take accountability for what they say, because if you’re saying that stuff, you’ve got to answer for it.”
