London, Apr 3 (PTI) Jofra Archer is once again cranking up “exceptional pace” following a series of injury setbacks since 2019 and is on England selectors’ radar for the T20 World Cup this year.
Archer’s county side Sussex’s coach Paul Farbrace said that the 29-year-old is bowling with the likes of England’s Ollie Robinson and the West Indies’ Jayden Seales in training and the plan is to make him ready for the showpiece event.
“Last week in practice there was a spell where Oliver (Robinson) had bowled, Jayden bowled and then Jofra came into the middle and bowled — and he came marching out and bowled exceptionally quick,” Farbrace was quoted as saying by The Telegraph on Tuesday.
Farbrace added he was mighty pleased to see Archer uprooting the stumps of Oli Carter a couple of times in the last few outings.
“At the moment the plan is very clear from (James) Keysy (Sussex’s bowling coach) that they’re getting him ready for the T20 World Cup. All I can say is what I have seen, he came with us to India and from what we’ve seen in pre-season so far, he’s bowling with exceptional pace, he’s batting really nicely.” Archer, who had been laid low by elbow and back injuries since 2019, joined Sussex on their pre-season tour to Bengaluru and played a few friendly games alongside Robinson and Seales since his return.
“Oli Carter, it went viral him (Archer) breaking his stump in the pre-season game, unfortunately he had his stump knocked over again by Jofra last week and he will testify that he’s bowling quick.
“He was brilliant in India, to have on the trip was fantastic, he joined in and did everything as well as you could have expected and was an excellent role model around the team.” Archer is centrally contracted to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and its managing director Rob Key is keeping a close watch on the bowler’s progress. Farbrace added that Archer’s workload will be closely monitored and managed after the T20 World Cup, which might see him being exempted from Championship action.
“My understanding is they are looking to get him ready for the T20 World Cup, we won’t see him in a red-ball shirt before the World Cup but let’s see what happens when that’s been played.” PTI AM AM KHS KHS
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