Jofra Archer might make his long-awaited comeback in whites next week, following England’s announcement of a 15-man squad, which features him, for the second Test game against India, set to be played at Edgbaston. Archer, if he plays, would return to the red-ball format after a four-year-long enforced hiatus owing to his injuries.
He last played a Test in April 2021 during England’s tour of India. Since that tour, the English pacer has come face-to-face with a series of frustrating injuries that have kept delaying his return. His injury run began with a strain in his right elbow, of which he saw as many as three episodes. The elbow injury flaring up forced him to undergo surgery in December 2021. The following year, he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back. Finally, in 2023, he was able to make his return to white-ball cricket, but two years on from that, he is yet to play a Test game.
Prior to being named in the squad, Archer played in Sussex’s away game against Durham, where he bowled 18 overs and grabbed a scalp for 32 runs. His return gives England’s bowling attack plenty of hope, who looked clueless during the first couple of days of the opening Test game in Headingley.
His body, Archer said, seems ready for the rigours of Test cricket. It’s his mind that might need a bit more convincing.
“It felt all right today,” he said after day two of his first-class game for Sussex. “I’ve been playing for a year, and bowling for two years, including the build-up, so everything is fine. Now it’s a different challenge, because I know my body can hold up to it. The mental part of the game [will be tough]. Over the next couple of days, I’m going to have to battle a bit with it, but it’s all good. It’s a new challenge, and I’ll keep trucking along.”
Besides Archer, England have named six pacers. Sam Cook and Jamie Overton will join Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, and Josh Tongue, all three of whom played the first Test. Tongue grabbed seven wickets across both innings, which included him cleaning up the Indian tail in the span of four balls in the second innings. Carse, who was rather wayward in the first innings, managed a level-headed spell in the second, taking three wickets, each more important than the next. And while Chris Woakes couldn’t conjure up his usual home-soil magic, Ben Stokes’ five-for in the first Test, his first since July 2022, was a sight to behold.
Archer’s inclusion is the only tweak to the XI that secured a five-wicket victory at Headingley to go one up in the series.
The next two Tests, set to be played at Edgbaston and Lord’s, will come in quick succession. The third Test will begin four days after the scheduled last day of the second, which means England would want to manage the workload of their pacers by rotating them across both games.
England Men’s Test squad: Ben Stokes (capt), Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
