London, April 30
In a huge boost to the English attack, right-arm seamer Jofra Archer has been included in England's squad for the upcoming ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024, marking his return to international cricket after a lengthy absence due to injury.
Archer is one of cricket's most exciting bowlers whose career has been derailed by injuries. The 29-year-old has barely featured for England in any format since 2021, mainly because of ongoing issues with his right elbow for which he has undergone two operations. A back injury ruled him out of most of 2022.
His last appearance for England dates back to May 2023, and since then, he has been on the road to recovery from an elbow injury that forced him out for nearly 12 months.
The path back hasn't been easy for Archer - since 2021, he has encountered multiple obstacles, including stress fractures, persistent elbow problems and even surgery due to a freak fish tank accident.
Before the mega event, the Three Lions will play a T20I series against Pakistan and the players will be leaving for that and will not be a part of the playoffs of the ongoing 17th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
"Selected players, currently playing in the Indian Premier League, will return in time for the series against Pakistan, which gets underway at Headingley on Wednesday 22 May 2024," the ECB said in a statement.
This means that the services of English players - Jos Buttler, Phil Salt and Moeen Ali will not be available for their respective IPL teams - Rajasthan Royals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Chennai Super Kings.
Earlier, a statement released by England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)stated that the England Test captain Ben Stokes's primary focus is to get fully fit to bowl not only for the summer of Test cricket, which includes two three-match Test series against West Indies and Sri Lanka respectively but for all cricket in the future.
"I'm working hard and focusing on building my bowling fitness back up to fulfill a full role as an allrounder in all formats of cricket. Opting out of the IPL and the World Cup will hopefully be a sacrifice that allows me to be the allrounder I want to be for the foreseeable future," Stokes said in a statement released by the ECB.
Despite his recent absence from the England line-up, experienced all-rounder Chris Jordan also secured his spot in the squad, his last international appearance dating back to September 2023.
Among the batters, Jos Buttler will lead the defending champions with Will Jacks, Phil Salt and Jonny Bairstow among the top-order contenders. Ben Duckett will lend some left-handed diversity to the squad along with veteran all-rounder Moeen Ali.
Harry Brook, Liam Livingstone and Sam Curran will provide the lower-order firepower to the team while Adil Rashid will lead the spin attack flanked by Tom Hartley.
The same squad has been selected for the four-match T20I series against Pakistan, which will commence on May 22 . All the players who are currently part of the Indian Premier League will return before the playoffs in time for the T20I series against Babar Azam's men.
All teams are allowed to make changes to their squad until May 25, after which any alteration will require approval from ICC's Event Technical Committee.
England will fly to the Caribbean on May 31 ahead of their first game against Scotland in Barbados on June 4. They are drawn in Group B at the T20 World Cup alongside Australia, Namibia, Scotland and Oman.
England squad: Jos Buttler (c), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonathan Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.