I rated all 36 balls Jofra Archer bowled on his long-awaited return

Jofra Archer cranked up his preparations for next month’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and USA with an extremely-quick six-over spell for Sussex’s Second XI against Kent on Friday.

In his first competitive match for more than a year, the 29-year-old, watched by his parents at Beckenham’s County Ground, took one for 11 on the fourth and final morning of this match.

England have taken Archer’s recovery from the long-term injury to his right elbow that has dogged him since January 2020 very slowly as they look to build up his fitness ahead of the World Cup.

He was parachuted into the final day of this match by England to give him match action after he continued his comeback in recent weeks in the nets at Sussex. After initially agreeing with England to bowl a four or five-over spell, the fact he managed one more without any apparent problems was an encouraging sign.

Archer had a positive pre-season with his county, bowling in two warm-up matches on their trip to India in March, and playing Twenty20 club cricket for Wildey in Barbados over the past month.

This, though, Archer’s first competitive game since he played in the Indian Premier League last May and first in England since July 2021, was a step up on a pitch with decent pace and carry.

Named in England’s provisional World Cup squad, the fast bowler is now expected to play a major role in the four-match T20 warm-up series against Pakistan, starting at Headingley on Wednesday.

Archer looked quicker and in better rhythm the longer the spell went on. Yet he did not take long to rattle Kent’s second-string, with 17-year-old Ekansh Singh forced to undergo an on-field concussion check after being struck on the helmet by Archer’s 11^th delivery of the morning.

He then dismissed Singh in his next over, his third, the teenager fending a length delivery to a diving third slip. Archer was denied a second wicket in his fifth over, hitting Gareth Severin’s pads after beating him for pace but the furious lbw appeal came to nothing. Archer then had an appeal for caught behind against Severin turned down in his final over.

It was in that final over where the Barbados-born quick really cranked up the speed, with the fourth ball looking to the naked eye as though it was over 90 miles per hour.

As he walked off the field still grumbling about the caught behind appeal that went against him, Archer’s low-key return in his first competitive match since last year’s Indian Premier League may have significance well beyond this summer.

Keen to have him back for next year’s Ashes in Australia, England director of cricket Rob Key has stated how carefully Archer’s return to fitness is being managed. He will not play Test cricket this year.

The player himself admitted last month: “I don’t know if I’ve got another stop-start year in me. That’s the truth, I don’t know if I’ve got another one.”

But there does seem genuine positivity that this time might be different for a bowler who has managed to play just seven white-ball internationals for England since March 2021, the last coming against Bangladesh 15 months’ ago.

Indeed, Key, white-ball coach Matthew Mott and captain Jos Buttler can look ahead to Archer’s potential impact at the T20 World Cup with cautious optimism after this performance.

Here’s the ball-by-ball breakdown from Beckenham: