England have fast-tracked Jofra Archer into their squad to face India in the second Test at Edgbaston next week despite the misgivings of hsi county coach.
The 30-year-old paceman returns to the Test setup for the first time since March 2021 after successfully coming through his first red-ball match for 1,501 days in Sussex’s match at Durham this week.
Archer is the only change to the England squad from the five-wicket win in the opening Test at Headingley and, with the batting lineup set in stone bar injury, the selectors have a tricky decision if they want to make room for him.
With Brydon Carse impressing, they would have to drop Chris Woakes, who would be playing on his home ground, or more likely Josh Tongue, who played a decisive roll in skittling out the India tail in both innings.
Archer’s call-up comes despite the Sussex head coach, Paul Farbrace, suggesting it would make more sense to hold him in reserve for the third Test.
“I would be definitely sticking with Chris Woakes for Edgbaston because he knows the pitch inside out,” the former England assistant coach said. “Why change the team? They’ve just won the Test at Headingley. They’ve set themselves up nicely for the series. If I was in their situation, my honest answer would be that I would save him for the third Test match.”
The former England captain Michael Vaughan agreed with the need for patience with the injury-plagued bowler. “I hope England aren’t too funky in terms of just swapping and changing for changing’s sake. I like seeing teams play over a period,” he said.
“Yes, you want to see Jofra throughout the summer, that’s not a debate. We need to see Jofra play a Test match or two but on the back of just one innings and one four-day game in four years, I just don’t see the rush. Let him play for Sussex for one more week and then pencil him in for the Test match at Lord’s.”
Archer finished with figures of one for 32 from Durham’s only innings having taken the wicket of opener Emilio Gay, and Sussex captain and wicketkeeper John Simpson was in no doubt Archer would be ready fitness-wise if he was selected. “There were quite a few deliveries hitting the gloves pretty hard, so from his perspective he’s fully fit, he’s ready to go,” he said.
“On that wicket, it was just about trying to get some overs into him. He did a fantastic job and he should be really pleased with his efforts throughout the game. He bowled some pretty sharp deliveries there, so it’s a really exciting time – whether it’s for us next week or England.”
England’s Mark Wood is delighted at Archer’s red-ball return and hopes they can form a long-awaited fast-bowling double act for England in Tests at some point this year.
Wood, back bowling lightly in the nets with Durham again after knee surgery in March, said: “It’s great to see him back firing. He was super relaxed. I saw him in the nets the other day when I was doing some bowling. He seems in great spirits, great shape.”
Wood has not ruled out facing India himself, rating his chances at 50-50, and while England fans would be delighted if he and Archer were fit for this winter’s Ashes, Wood is clear they must earn their place.
Ben Stokes (Durham, capt), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Sam Cook (Essex), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Jamie Overton (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
“There are no guarantees for any of us,” he said. “We’ve all got to put in those performances. It would be lovely to play with him and I still have that hope, but we’ve got to run our own races. You can not look too far ahead and neither of us have got a right to just walk into the team.”
Archer has been plagued by injury since his breakthrough summer of 2019 when he starred in England’s ODI World Cup win and then took 22 wickets during four Tests of the Ashes series. Six years on, he has earned 13 Test caps after battling a long-term elbow problem and a stress fracture in his back.
Additional reporting by Tanya Aldred
