England’s managing director of cricket Rob Key insists Jofra Archer is not being rushed back ahead of schedule after he was called up for next week’s second Test against India at Edgbaston.
The injury-plagued fast bowler’s last Test appearance was 1,583 days ago on 25 February 2021 against India in Ahmedabad.
But he is back in England’s Test squad for Birmingham after bowling just 18 overs in Sussex’s County Championship match at Durham earlier this week.
After Archer’s first red-ball match in more than four years, Sussex coach Paul Farbrace admitted he would have held the 30-year-old back for the third Test at Lord’s.
Yet Key is adamant England are not taking a risk calling up Archer now and believes he can prove himself to be one of the country’s greatest bowlers over the next few years.
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“The whole Jofra plan has been a long time in the making, where it’s been about building up, building up, all the way throughout,” Key said at an event for Test match sponsors Rothesay in London.
“I think we’ve gone slower than we could have done to be honest. The temptation would have been to rush him and bring him back sooner. But actually we’ve gone down this road to make sure we’re in this position now where we think he’ll be able to play.
“He could be one of the best bowlers we’ve had. And you only do that by doing it in Test cricket. Hopefully in the next few years we’ll be fortunate enough to see Jofra have a chance to stake that claim.”
Archer is not guaranteed to play at Edgbaston but it is inevitable he will return to England’s XI either in Birmingham or at Lord’s the following week.
The plan to get him back to Test cricket has been long in the making, with England restricting the Barbados-born bowler to white-ball cricket for the past 13 months.
During that time there have been no issues with the chronic elbow or back injuries that have kept him from playing Tests over the past four years.
It is Archer’s desire to play the longest format again that has also meant Key has never doubted he would return even though he has had offers to become a white-ball specialist.
“Jofra’s always been adamant he wants to play Test cricket,” he said. “And he’s had [offers] probably more so than anyone in the game. That’s a big statement but he could have been tempted to go down other routes and he’s never once done it. So I’ve always had faith in Jofra really that he’s wanted to do it and he always has.
“We’ve had lots and lots of conversations over the last year about how you map it out to get there, working with him. In the years gone by, you had bowling coaches, strength and conditioning coaches, physios and they don’t always work together in English cricket. It’s a combination of all those people having a say and having a plan and so everyone has worked bloody hard with Jofra to get to this point and he’s itching to go.
“Bowlers do go through a bit of heartache and pain but you hope that at some point they find that period where they can just play. Let’s hope Jofra has that and actually he’s 30 years old but he’s still young in his bowling age. He’s got a few more years to come.”
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In an ideal world, Archer would have started the County Championship season with Sussex and built up his return to Test cricket by playing several rounds of domestic first-class cricket.
However, his decision to play in the Indian Premier League put back his Test return, with England feeling they were unable to stop him as he would have been banned from the lucrative tournament for two years had he not entered last November’s auction.
A broken thumb he sustained at the IPL delayed his comeback further. But every step was taken to forensically monitor Archer’s red-ball return at Durham.
The iHawk cameras worn by umpires allowed England’s hierarchy to see the trajectory, seam movement, release height, pace and swing of every delivery Archer bowled.
Moreover, Neil Killeen, England’s elite pace bowling coach, was at the match and spoke to Sussex bowling coach James Kirtley every day to discuss Archer’s progress.
Farbrace also had a debrief with Killeen and national selector Luke Wright after the match.
“Jofra is such a talent,” Key said. “He was straight on the money.
“Bowling on a slow pitch, with good pace. We can track every single ball. He isn’t going to forget how to bowl.
“He’s a pretty pure talent, there’s not a lot of moving parts to his action. He knows exactly what he’s doing. I think he’ll get better and better throughout the Test series.”
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