England blindsided by shock Jofra Archer appearance in Barbados
The England men's cricket team was surprised to learn injury-plagued star Jofra Archer played in a Barbados club match last week, with managing director Rob Key caught unaware of the paceman's appearance.
Recovering from a reoccurring stress fracture in his right elbow which ruled him out of this year's Ashes, Archer met up with the England side during its white-ball tour of the West Indies in Barbados on Friday.
Born in Barbados, Archer flew back to the UK on Sunday but, before doing so, he made an appearance for his old school side Foundation on day one of its three-day fixture against Lords in division one of the Barbados Cricket Association.
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Jofra Archer of England. Getty
Despite still working through his rehab, Archer led the attack with 4-18.
However, it appears the 28-year-old refrained from notifying those associated with England, with Key taken aback while announcing the Test squad for the tour of India.
"I'm not aware of that. I'll find out," he said when asked about Archer's cameo.
Archer flew to India for several days as England's only travelling reserve for the recent 50-over World Cup with his last professional appearance in May after being hampered by elbow issues. Despite this, he was awarded a two-year central contract in October.
England's plan to delay Archer's return to cricket was made clear when the team stopped him from entering the 2024 Indian Premier League auction after he had to be withdrawn midway through last season.
Jofra Archer. Tom Jenkins via Getty Images
"Jofra was bowling out here [in Barbados]," Key said.
"As you often see with Jofra, he rocks up, ends up bowling 95 miles an hour [152 kilometres per 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.
"Now we're taking control of him coming back. We're not going to say, 'You need to get back for this part here'."
It is understood the team wants to have him at full fitness for the 2024 T20 World Cup in June.
