England pacer Jofra Archer admitted that playing more than one Ashes Test during the summer would be a “bonus” for him after his return from injury, which kept him out of the sport for nearly two years.
Archer is aware of opportunities that are before him in 2023, with a home Ashes summer and defence of 50-over World Cup title in India during October-November after it. These are the events which helped him announce his arrival at international level back in 2019. “It is pretty similar actually. If you caught form at the right time in 2019, you probably would have been able to carry it throughout the whole summer, whereas now you have got a couple of months before the World Cup,” said Archer as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“Hopefully this summer will have the opportunity to surpass it, but I do not think there will be many other summers of cricket that are better than that. If I can play one game this summer, I will be happy. If I play more than one, that’s a bonus,” added Archer.
Archer said that he has surpassed his ambitions in battling back from persistent injury to resume his international career. He is in midst of a great, but cautious return to action across all formats. He has claimed a total of 13 wickets in four ODIs and a T20I since his comeback against South Africa in January. It includes a spell of 6/40 against the same opponents in an ODI last month.
After this T20I series against Bangladesh, he will link up with Mumbai Indians for the Indian Premier League (IPL).
His schedule is demanding, with his IPL season bleeding right into England’s Test summer against Ireland and Australia in June-July. But it is vastly preferable to Archer’s status during this time last year, when his recovery from two elbow operations was interrupted by a back stress fracture.
“Sometimes you have still got that little feeling in the back of your mind that you are still not ready yet,” Archer said.