LONDON, CMC – Barbados-born pacers Jofra Archer and Chris Jordan were named on Tuesday in the 15-member provisional squad of defending champions England for the ICC Men’s Twenty20 World Cup in June in the Caribbean and the United States.
Archer, 29, was passed fit after recovering from a right elbow injury that has kept him out of competitive action since May last year.
He got permission from the England & Wales Cricket Board to play a couple of matches for club side Wildey in the Barbados Cricket Association T20 Cup tournament this month as part of his rehabilitation. He bowled with pace and looked to be gradually returning to his best.
“Jofra is that bowler who’s just so special. You do everything you can to get him back playing,” England’s director of cricket, Rob Key, said.
“We’ve taken the longer road this time. But as always with Jofra, we keep our fingers crossed until he’s out there playing. You’re waiting for something good to happen—you don’t quite believe it until he’s there. But he’s tracking well at the moment.
“The next step is when he gets into that Pakistan series, it will be full-match intensity, and how he keeps going through there.
“But at the moment, we’re doing everything we can, and he’s in a good spot. And playing in Barbados, as you can imagine, is something Jofra is desperate to do as well.”
Jordan, 35, was recalled to the side after making the last 88 T20 International appearances against New Zealand last September.
“We’ve watched CJ for a while now, and his bowling has always been a serious factor for us,” Key said. “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. Power is big in the Caribbean, so CJ has comfortably got in there.”
Lancashire left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Tom Hartley is the only uncapped player in the squad, while Surrey batsman Will Jacks has not played in an ICC World Cup before.
There was no place for all-rounder Chris Woakes, a member of the 2019 One-day International and 2023 T20I World Cup-winning teams, while left-handed batsman Dawid Malan has also been omitted.
England will prepare for the tournament with a home series of four T20Is against Pakistan, starting on May 22 at Headingley.
They start the World Cup against Scotland on June 4 in Barbados.
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