England are backing Jofra Archer to inspire their T20 World Cup defence after naming the quick in their provisional squad for the summer tournament, almost a year on from his last competitive appearance.
Archer last played top-level cricket at the Indian Premier League (IPL) in May last year before suffering a recurrence of a stress fracture of the elbow, but was on Tuesday included in a 15-man squad for next month’s four-match series against Pakistan, as well as the World Cup in the USA and Caribbean that follows.
Chris Jordan has also been recalled, while young spinner Tom Hartley and Test opener Ben Duckett get the nod, but there is no place for either dual World Cup winner Chris Woakes or teenager Rehan Ahmed.
Archer returned to England duty on white-ball tours of South Africa and Bangladesh at the start of last year, before breaking down again to continue a torrid run of injuries that began with another stress fracture at the start of 2020.
Despite his struggles, however, the 29-year-old was handed a new two-year central contract in the autumn and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have been plotting an ultra-cautious approach to his latest comeback, with short-format cricket to be the focus this summer and a Test return ruled out until 2025 at the earliest.
Archer must prove his fitness in the warm-up series against Pakistan before England fly across the Atlantic. Their first World Cup group game is scheduled for June 4, in Barbados against Scotland.
“Jofra’s that bowler that is just so special that you do everything you can to try and get him back playing,” Rob Key, England’s managing director of men’s cricket, said. “We’ve taken the longer road back this time but as always with Jofra, it’s fingers-crossed until he’s out there back playing.
“The next step is when he gets into that Pakistan series is going to be that full match intensity but at the moment we’re doing everything we can and he’s in a good spot.”
Archer took part in Sussex’s preseason earlier this year and is now playing club cricket in Barbados as part of his rehabilitation, after admitting in a recent interview that he might not “have it in him” to go through another disrupted season.
“Mentally it’s been tough [for him],” Key added. “That’s why we try to get him right, let him go home and spend time in Barbados and do the training there, rather than just spending time in England.
“I’ve always been aware of that and the toll it’s been on him. Fingers crossed he gets the bit of luck he deserves.”
After the dismal failure of last year’s 50-over World Cup defence in India, head coach Matthew Mott and captain Jos Buttler are under significant pressure heading into the latest renewal of a tournament they won as a new leadership duo in 2022.
With Jamie Overton ruled out with a back problem, the pair have turned back to the experience of Jordan, who was left out of the white-ball tour to the Caribbean before Christmas.
“With CJ, his bowling has always been a serious factor for us,” Key explained. “The fact that he can bowl at the death has always been something we look for. But his batting seems to have kicked on a bit this time.
“Having power as well is a big thing out in the Caribbean, which he has. So that’s why CJ has comfortably got in there.”
Ahmed bowled in tandem with Adil Rashid on that trip but has been overlooked in favour of Hartley. The Lancashire spinner is uncapped in T20Is but impressed on the Test tour of India this winter and offers the variety of a left-arm option.
Woakes, meanwhile, has been left out in part as a consequence of Archer’s return, but Key insisted the seamer remains a firm part of plans for the home Test summer and need not be done in white-ball internationals yet, either.
"From a tactical point of view you feel you probably want a left-arm spinner as a slight point of difference from two leg-spinners,” Key said of Hartley’s pick. “Tom is someone who's an optimistic pick, he brings youth and optimism into the side.
“Woakes’s real specialism is with the new ball in the powerplay. If someone like Jofra Archer comes back in, then you’re looking at who is the other person to partner him with that new ball and really set the tone. Reece Topley has just nipped ahead of him.
“[Woakes will] be very much in our thoughts if there are injuries. He also had an outstanding summer in the Ashes last year so we see him as someone who is going to feature in Test cricket.”
Duckett’s inclusion reflects the lack of left-handers in England’s top order after Ben Stokes opted out of the tournament to manage his workload, though with the likes of Buttler, Phil Salt, Jonny Bairstow and Will Jacks in fine form at the IPL, he appears likely to start on the bench.
England have confirmed that players currently playing in India will return in time for the start of the Pakistan series at Headingley on May 22.
Preliminary England squad for T20 World Cup
Jos Buttler (Lancashire) Captain
Moeen Ali (Warwickshire)
Jofra Archer (Sussex)
Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire)
Harry Brook (Yorkshire)
Sam Curran (Surrey)
Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire)
Tom Hartley (Lancashire)
Will Jacks (Surrey)
Chris Jordan (Surrey)
Liam Livingstone (Lancashire)
Adil Rashid (Yorkshire)
Phil Salt (Lancashire)
Reece Topley (Surrey)
Mark Wood (Durham)