As one of the stars of modern-day cricket, Jofra Archer is a valuable asset for his national team, England. The pacer played a pivotal role in England's 2019 World Cup victory, but since then his participation in top-level cricket has been blighted by injury.
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Archer underwent two separate surgeries in 2021 for a recurring elbow injury, which kept him out of international action for nearly a year, before undergoing more treatment for the issue in 2022.
He returned to cricket in 2023, taking 6/40 for England against South Africa but has now been out of action thanks to another stress fracture in his right elbow.
Trouble brewing between ECB and Jofra Archer?
As part of his rehabilitation from injury, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has devised a training plan and is keeping tabs on his recovery. The board even took the decision to pull Archer out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction later this month, to ensure he would not be participating in the tournament next year.
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However, as reported by news outlets yesterday, Archer turned out for his former school team Foundation against Lords in the Barbados Cricket Association League, picking up 4/18 including one wicket with left-arm spin.
England's managing director Rob Key was asked about Archer's participation in the game, but it turned out he had had no prior knowledge of the development, saying, "I'm not aware of that". Speaking further on the decision to withdraw the player from the IPL auction, Key said,
Now we're taking control of him coming back. We're not going to say you need to get back for this part here. From what they've said, an elbow injury is a complicated place to have an injury. So we just want to take this as slow as possible.
Jofra was keen to go into the IPL auction but we just feel like, actually, the best way to do this now is just for us to be in control of it. There's no commitment either way, and we can then just bring you back.
It remains to be seen whether any action will be taken due to Archer's participation, but either way the situation is not an ideal on for either the ECB or Archer.
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