England were surprised by the swift return of fast bowler Jofra Archer from injury during a Barbados club match last week. Team chief Rob Key revealed on Monday that they were unaware of his involvement. The long-term injury absentee, Archer, who is currently on a white-ball tour of the West Indies with the England team, joined them in Barbados on Friday. This was part of the Sussex quick's ongoing rehabilitation for a longstanding right elbow problem.
Although Archer flew back to the UK on Sunday, he had already played for his old school side Foundation earlier on the same day. He contributed significantly to their three-day fixture against Lords in division one of the Barbados Cricket Association league, finishing as the standout performer with figures of 4-18.
However, it seems that Archer's participation took place without England's knowledge. Rob Key, the England director of men's cricket, made this revelation while speaking after announcing the Test squad for the upcoming tour of India on Monday.
"I'm not aware of that -- I'll find out," Key said.
According to The Cricketer website, one of Archer's wickets came from a delivery bowled by a left-arm spinner.
The 28-year-old paceman's most recent professional appearance was in May. Unfortunately, he was ruled out of the Ashes due to a recurrence of a stress fracture in his right elbow, a persistent issue since his breakout year in 2019.
Despite not being part of the Test squad, Archer spent a brief three days in Mumbai after being designated as England's sole "travelling reserve" for the recent 50-over World Cup. However, he was granted a two-year central contract in October.
Recognizing the importance of not rushing Archer's return, England refrained from allowing him to participate in the Indian Premier League auction. This decision was made with an eye on potentially having him fit for the 2024 T20 World Cup in June.
"Jofra was bowling out here (in Barbados)," Key added. "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.
"Actually now we're taking control of him coming back. We're not going to say, 'you need to get back for this part here'."
(With AFP inputs)
