‘Injured’ Jofra Archer puts on a show for his old school team in Barbados without ECB’s knowledge

Ace pacer Jofra Archer has been out of action since April, after suffering from a stress fracture during IPL 2023. He took a break and returned to England in the middle of the tournament to be fit for Ashes 2023 and if not, then before the ODI World Cup. However, it took him longer than that as the 28-year-old is yet to gain complete fitness. England management is in no hurry and has been cautious about his recovery but interestingly, the cricketer was recently spotted bowling for his old school team in Barbados. 

Archer played for Foundation in a match against Lord’s. According to the official Barbados Cricket website, he was extremely impressive, picking up four wickets and giving away just 18 runs. He was the star performer as he bowled pace as well as some left-arm spin. Meanwhile, the team management wasn’t aware of Archer’s action as he is slated to follow a strict schedule for his recovery program at the moment.

Upon learning about the incident, Director of Cricket Rob Key mentioned that he would find out more information before making a public comment. He however added that they are taking things slow with Archer and not pushing for any particular deadline. The former cricketer mentioned that they are learning from their past mistakes and will give ample time to the pacer for recovery.

“I'm not aware of that, I'll find out,” Key said when asked about Jofra’s participation in a cricket match, as quoted by India Today.

“We're just going to take it slow with him, we don't want to put any sort of deadlines on him. That's what we've done in the past, and we're trying to learn from that. If it takes an extra couple of months, but he gets another couple of years out of his career and gets back fully. He's worth his weight in gold,” Key added.

Notably, Jofra isn’t in the scheme of things at the moment as he has not been called up for the five-match Test series against India.