Just one Test. As Jofra Archer works his way back to full fitness after an injury-ravaged 18 months, and before he heads to his first Indian Premier League season since 2020, this is the primary target. “If I can play one game this summer, I’ll be happy. If I play more than one, that’s a bonus,” he says.
It is a tantalising prospect. Archer has been involved in three of the four games England have so far played in Bangladesh and will probably play one more, with the penultimate T20 scheduled for Sunday.
Only in the first of those games did he complete his full allocation of overs and he has rarely approached full speed, but of England’s players only Adil Rashid, who has played all four matches, has taken more wickets (with nine; Sam Curran is level with Archer on six). Taking the tour as a whole on both bowling average and economy rate this ranks as the finest white-ball series of Archer’s career. “I think there is still a bit more rust I need to take off, but for now I’m happy with how the body has held up,” he says.
England’s medical team are still urging caution during a period when he is not so much building up his fitness as being careful not to jeopardise it. But what is clear is that his action is still as silken as ever, and the cutting edge as sharp.
“Sometimes you’ve still got that little feeling in the back of your mind that you’re still not ready yet, you know,” the 27-year-old says. “But for me, I just put that behind me and whatever happens happens. If you’re supposed to get injured again, then there’s nothing you can do about it. But till that time comes I’m just going to give everything I’ve got.”
Perhaps not absolutely everything. There is still a time and a place to lay it all on the line, and this – particularly a T20 series with little at stake except reputation – is not really it. “To be honest, I’m not going to be charging in trying to bowl 95mph over here,” he says. “It sounds a bit bad but on wickets where you put everything in and you don’t get anything out, I think you’re just putting yourself at risk.
“Coming back and playing cricket for England again means I have already done what I wanted to do. I said 18 months ago I was going to be back and now I am back. Hopefully I’ll have a long career, so it makes no sense doing too much too soon.”
Not when his diary is crammed with so much, so soon. From here – after a short break in Barbados – Archer moves on to the IPL before turning his attention to the Ashes, and perhaps from there to the 50- over World Cup. He has just received a schedule for his IPL season from Mumbai Indians, which will now be assessed by the England and Wales Cricket Board’s strength and conditioning coaches before a personalised plan for the tournament is agreed.
“To be honest, I don’t even know what’s going on,” he says of his schedule. “Usually back-to-back games I don’t even bother to ask because I already know what the answer is. But I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen at the IPL. Hopefully I can play back-to-back, or fly and play. I don’t think it’ll be as heavily restricted as when I first started. I hope not. It’s only four overs and it’s definitely not as taxing as a 50-over game, but the medical team knows best.
“There’s a lot of cricket coming up and I’m just doing everything I can to stay on the park for all of it. I don’t think I can play all of it, it probably wouldn’t be sensible to, but whatever the medical team tells me I can do, I’m all for it.”
A cautious workload and the nature of touring in Bangladesh, where there are few opportunities for impromptu outings and a lot of time is spent in hotels, might have made for a frustrating few weeks for other players. Downtime, however, is not something with which Archer appears to struggle.
“My time’s gone by a little bit slowly but it’s all right, you just have to find ways to keep yourself occupied,” he says. “There’s no reason to be upset about it or anything. If you know you’re going to miss a game or two, if you know you’re going to have a boring tour or a few boring days, it makes no sense dwelling on it. You knew before you packed your suitcase how it was going to be. I’ve had a lot of downtime before, it doesn’t bother me that much.”
Archer sips from a can of lemonade as he sits by the pool of the team’s Dhaka hotel. And then, the drink finished, he slowly rips it into pieces.
