StoryMag
Jofra Archer’s latest injury nightmare is almost over now that he is in England’s T20 World Cup squad, along with spinner Tom Hartley, who has never played before, and veteran seamer Chris Jordan.
Archer has had terrible injuries since his big break in the summer of 2019. He hasn’t played competitive cricket in a year because he hurt his right arm again from a stress fracture.
He slowly improved, though, and now he’s been cleared to play. He’s part of a 15-person squad that will protect the title that Jos Buttler’s team won in Australia in 2022.
The team is only “provisional,” and there are only 24 hours left until the International Cricket Council’s deadline. Since no reserve players have been named yet, the 29-year-old can’t make his long-awaited comeback unless he has more fitness problems.
Archer has only played in 15 T20 matches since his first international match five years ago, but he is still seen as a possible game-changer in the format, and having grown up in Barbados, he knows better than most how the conditions will be in the Caribbean, where England will play their games.
Archer’s close friend and fellow Bajan, Chris Jordan, is also back with the team for his fifth T20 World Cup.
The 35-year-old already has the most wickets of any pace bowler in the country’s T20 tournaments. He takes over as the senior seamer from Chris Woakes, who doesn’t play because of his poor performance in England’s 50-over World Cup loss to India this winter.
Nine players from that event are still on the team. Hartley is the newest player, but Will Jacks, Phil Salt, who just came back from an impressive run in the Indian Premier League, and Ben Duckett, who can play multiple positions, are also still there.
Hartley beat out Rehan Ahmed to become the backup spin bowler for experienced pair Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali. This is because of how mature he was on his first Test tour of India.
Hartley has done well with the red ball, but he has more experience as a limited-overs player, having played regularly for Lancashire in the Vitality Blast and Manchester Originals in The Hundred.
Mark Wood, Reece Topley, Archer, and Jordan make up the seam group. Sam Curran, who won the event in 2022, and Liam Livingstone are the all-rounders.
The top order of batters is completed by Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow. Bairstow ended a run of average form with a timely hundred for the Punjab Kings last week.
