James Anderson last week confirmed that the first Test of the upcoming home summer will be the last of his 21-year long career. With the veteran hanging his boots and Stuart Broad also retiring at the end of the summer last yeaer, England now have a challenge of finding a new-ball pair in Tests as good as the duo. It certainly won't be easy for them with no promising prospects in line currently. Jofra Archer could've been one of them but he is set to not play Tests until 2025 despite being picked in the T20 World Cup squad.
Archer last played international cricket in March 2023 but when it comes to Tests, his last appearance goes back to February 2021 against India in Ahmedabad. Having finally recovered from a long injury layoff, the fast bowler was picked in the squad for the World Cup to be played in the West Indies and the USA next month from June 1 to June 29.
But Archer isn't playing any Tests this summer as England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is monitoring his workload. ECB doesn't want to rush him to red-ball cricket and for now, he might play only red-ball cricket. ECB Managing Director Rob Key has confirmed that the board is eyeing for him to play in Tests next summer against India and then in the Ashes.
"The whole plan with Jofra is he is going to play white-ball cricket this summer. Then hopefully next summer when we play India then the Ashes [in Australia] we get him back for Test cricket," Key told Sky Sports last month. All eyes will be on Archer in the upcoming four-match T20I series against Pakistan starting from May 22 as he will be making a comeback to international cricket after 14 months. "What we're going to do is take it slower [rather] than trying to go too quickly so we get him back for not just a short period, but a long period," Key added.
