England pacer Jofra Archer is all set to return to competitive cricket with a county match on Thursday after an injury which kept him out of action for almost two months.
Archer’s last performance was in the month of March 20 which was in the fifth T20 between India & England in Ahmedabad. He had surgery on his hand at the end of the same month, following a bizarre injury involving a fish tank, and has been managing an elbow problem which led him to withdraw from the whole of the IPL before its postponement.
Archer also had to pull out from IPL 2021 but now, since he is all set to make a return, has been named in Sussex’s 13 Men squad which will face Kent on Thursday. Ian Salisbury, the club’s head coach for Championship and List A cricket, said:
“Any team in world cricket would be excited to name Jof in their squad for a game. Everybody is aware of his talents.”
Salisbury had stressed the need to “look at the bigger picture” following Sussex’s heavy defeat to Northamptonshire last week, saying:
“Are we going to force him to come back when he’s actually England’s player? Say he gets an injury and he can’t play in the Test matches this summer – I wouldn’t be very popular.”
Sussex do not have a Championship fixture on May 20, meaning this is likely to be Archer’s final chance to prove his fitness before England’s first Test of the summer, against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 2.
Meanwhile, Kent have announced that Joe Denly, whose most recent Test for England came against West Indies last summer, will miss the fixture at Hove.
“[He] is currently taking some time away from the game for personal reasons and is therefore unavailable for our next match,”
a club statement said.