Jofra Archer has expressed his strong desire to play the upcoming T20 World Cup for England in front of his family in the West Indies.
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Archer has been troubled by persistent injuries for several years now, which have not allowed him a continuous shot at international cricket. His last professional game came in May last year, following which he has been out of action due to an elbow injury.
Archer was named as the sole travelling reserve for the 2023 World Cup. He also travelled to India recently on Sussex’s pre-season tour and had a few decent outings with the ball. According to ECB’s current plans, he is supposed to return to international cricket during England’s T20I series against Pakistan in May shortly before the T20 World Cup.
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Teams are required to submit provisional squads for the World Cup by May 1. England play Scotland and Australia in Barbados on June 4 and 8 respectively. Archer, born and brought up in Barbados, expects to be fit for the World Cup and to play in front of his family.
Speaking to The Athlete’s Voice by 4CAST, he said: “I really do want to be in the team. I really do want to be playing back at home. I’d love my family and my dogs at that first game back. I haven’t played for England at all this year, so I think it would be really fitting if that could happen.”
However, Archer is mindful of the fact that he might not end up being ready for the T20 World Cup. “The last two years have been really stop-start, so I just think that everyone’s going to just take it a bit easy,” he said. “If I’m ready then fine, happy days. But if I’m not, they’re still supporting me until whenever I am ready.
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“Worst-case scenario, even if I don’t make it to the World Cup for whatever reason, there’s still the T20 Blast, there’s still the Hundred. There’s still cricket that I haven’t got a chance to play in the last couple of years. As much as I want to play in the World Cup, if it doesn’t happen for whatever reason, at least I still know I could be somewhat active as well.”
Archer also lamented on the missed opportunities due to injuries and said that he might “not have it in him” to go through another year riddled with injuries: “Last year, I played from January to May, because I did go to the IPL as well. And then the year before that, I played maybe one or two games for Sussex, so I’ve had a whole year of nothing
“Hopefully, from June 1 and when June 1 comes next year, hopefully I’ve had no breaks, no injuries, and just constantly playing. It’s been a while and honestly, I don’t know if I’ve got another stop-start year in me. That’s the truth. I don’t know if I’ve got another one.”
