Cricket News: Jofra Archer will play his first international game since March 2021
After being named to a 14-man ODI squad for the January tour of South Africa, Jofra Archer appears poised to play his first match for England in nearly two years.
Jofra Archer to make a comebackArcher, England's leading wicket-taker in their 2019 ODI World Cup victory, last appeared in an international match in March 2021 during the T20I tour of India.
His career has been hampered in recent years by a long-standing elbow issue that has necessitated two surgeries, as well as a stress fracture of the lower back that has kept him out of the entire 2022 home summer.
He did, however, make a promising comeback to England set up in the UAE last month, participating in warm-up games against the Test squad and practising with the England Lions. In one of his nine overs in that game, he struck Zak Crawley in the head with a vicious bouncer.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">JUST IN: Jofra Archer returns to an England squad for the first time since March 2021!<br><br>He has been included for their upcoming ODI tour of South Africa in January 🏴🇿🇦<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvENG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvENG</a> <a href="https://t.co/ojigDgJpoo">pic.twitter.com/ojigDgJpoo</a></p>— ESPNcricinfo (@ESPNcricinfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNcricinfo/status/1605865742615732224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 22, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
His return is a part of a controlled return to play across all formats; in addition, Archer will play two matches for MI Cape Town in the inaugural SA20, a new local league in South Africa that begins in January before the three-match England tour.
After his bowling appearance in Abu Dhabi last month, Archer described his return to play against the Test squad as "a small day but still a big day" and acknowledged he was still in the very early stages of his comeback to full fitness.
"I'd rather take these last few months very seriously, more serious than probably all of the rehab," he said. "Because once this phase goes right, then it can set me up for the next three to four years injury-free. That's the goal right now."
The three-game series will take place over six days, with the first game beginning on January 27 in Bloemfontein and the England Test tour of New Zealand starting the following week.