England were left blindsided after discovering injured fast bowler Jofra Archer made a surprise appearance for his old school team Foundation in Barbados without their knowledge.
Archer, who was raised in Barbados before qualifying for England and playing a crucial role in the 2019 World Cup win, has joined the national side for training in recent days as he steps up his return to fitness after a series of setbacks in his elbow injury.
But Rob Key, England’s managing director, was taken aback when told that Archer had made his return to match action for Foundation.
“I’m not aware of that,” Key said. “I’ll find out.”
Archer played the first day of a three-day match on Sunday, shortly before flying back to England. He has been staying in Barbados, where he has a house, while continuing his rehab work. He is thought to be highly unlikely to return to play in the final two days of the three-day match on Saturday and Sunday next week.
Archer has not played for England since March this year in a T20 against Bangladesh. He has featured just seven times for the national team in one-day matches since March 2021 because of his recurring elbow problems.
Archer played for his old school largely with schoolboys – but against a men’s club side. Foundation play in Division One of the Barbados Cricket Association League, the second tier of the country’s club structure. The school are currently battling relegation in the three-day competition, and enlisted Archer’s help as their surprise weapon to try and keep them up.
On day one of the game, Archer took four for 18 to bowl Lords – Foundation’s opponents – out for 114. Archer largely bowled pace but also took one wicket with his left-arm spin. When Foundation came to bat, Archer hit 11 for his side, who closed on 78 for 8, trailing by 36 runs.
Justin Strickland, who was clean bowled for a second ball duck, said that Archer was too quick for him.
“Given his reputation as one of the fastest bowlers in world cricket I was a bit nervous,” Strickland said. “I saw long on and long off in the circle so I was trying to hit it over the top but the ball was through me before I could get the bat down.”
Foundation are believed to have been desperate to include Archer because of a change in Barbados Cricket Association rules, which means that schools are no longer allowed to play in the top two tiers. This effectively means that if Foundation were relegated they would never be able to return to Division One.
Key emphasised that England are trying to manage Archer’s return carefully after a series of injuries. The 28-year-old will not appear in this year’s Indian Premier League with hopes that he could be eased back into action and potentially make the squad for the next T20 World Cup, in June.
“Jofra was bowling out here,” Key said. “As you often see with Jofra, he rocks up and you think what’s going to happen here, and he ends up bowling 95 miles an hour and he looks like he’s an absolute genius. But 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, we’re trying to learn from what we’ve done in the past with Jofra.
“Now we’re taking control of him coming back. We’re not going to say you need to get back for this part here. From what they’ve said, an elbow injury is a complicated place to have an injury. So we just want to take this as slow as possible.
“Jofra was keen to go into the IPL auction but we just feel like, actually, the best way to do this now is just for us to be in control of it. There’s no commitment either way, and we can then just bring you back.
“If it takes an extra couple of months, but he gets another couple of years out of his career, and gets back fully. I think he’s worth his weight in gold.”