England’s Jofra Archer Savors Emotional Return to Barbados for T20 World Cup
Jofra Archer couldn’t hide his emotions as he took the field for England against Scotland at Kensington Oval in Barbados. The fast bowler, playing in his motherland for the first time, was greeted with thunderous cheers from the crowd, especially a large group of students from his alma mater, Christ Church Foundation, who had been given the day off to witness the homecoming.
“Yeah, it was a little bit emotional,” Archer admitted, speaking at the nearby Windward Cricket Club. “I had a little bit of water in my eye, a bit of a cry, but I was just settling.”
The prime minister had even invited the England team up to the box, having canceled school for the students to come and watch Archer and his teammate Chris Jordan, another Bajan, take the field.
Archer, who had avoided the media ahead of the match, said the nerves subsided once he delivered his first ball.
“Once you get the first ball out of the way, any nerves are gone. You tend to forget everything else and just focus. I feel that’s the best way. There’s so much surrounding the cricket before you bowl a ball. So much goes into playing a game.”
The 28-year-old’s return has been carefully managed by England, with the T20 World Cup defense in mind, after he underwent surgery on his right elbow following last year’s IPL.
“It was just a little bit of luck because, you know, if we’d gone a little bit… it could have gone wrong. Maybe I could peak too early and could have missed this. Or I didn’t get up to speed fast enough and I miss it again. So I just feel very lucky that everything had checked along with this block. Hopefully I can peak for all of it.”
Archer had raised eyebrows when he was spotted playing a local league match for his old school during England’s tour of the Caribbean last year, but he said he had been monitoring his own levels to ensure a gradual return to action.
“I’ve been playing cricket since November. I’ve been fit since November. I’ve just been trying not to do too much or too little. Just trying to be okay for this period, for this summer.”
The fast bowler, who signed a two-year contract with the ECB in October, was eager to repay the faith shown by the England management.
“I found it a little bit worrying, not really frustrating, because I was able to spend most of my rehab here,” he said. “I only live 150 metres from this ground right now, so being able to do your rehab, just get away from the noise back in the UK, was really good.”
Archer will not feature in Test cricket this summer, but his eventual return to the format is being carefully planned.
“I’ve got a PDF file of every single game I’m supposed to play in from now till next summer anyway. They’ve really planned out almost everything. Probably the only thing they haven’t planned out is the showers I take.”
England will face Australia at Kensington Oval on Saturday, and the majority of the fans will be cheering for one of their own. Archer, who has added a couple of parrots named Jessie and James to his menagerie, would love to sneak his beloved dogs into the stadium, though he admitted that might be a challenge.
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