Joffra Archer returns to red-ball cricket after 1501 days, return test in IND vs ENG on card

Test comeback in IND vs ENG series?

After trouble with his elbow and then back, Archer has been injury-free since IPL 2025 ended. Even though Archer missed the last leg of the IPL due to a thumb injury, his troubled elbow and back seem to be fine. With the Ashes coming up and England’s long list of injured pace bowlers, Archer would be raring to make a comeback.

On his return to County cricket, he bowled a short spell of four overs to start with. To everyone’s delight, he bowled well to trouble both Durham batters Alex Lees and Emilio Gay. Now, as he continues to build red-ball workload, all eyes will be on him. While the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is optimistic about his return as soon as the IND vs ENG 2nd Test in Birmingham, Test captain Ben Stokes is cautious.

“He’s been absolutely desperate to put the white shirt back on. He’s had a torrid run with injuries, but he’s managed a fair bit of white-ball cricket recently. The fact that we can now put a structure in place for his red-ball return is a great sign,” Ben Stokes said ahead of the IND vs ENG 1st Test in Headingley.

Jofra Archer injury timeline

• January 2020: Archer experiences soreness in his right elbow during England’s tour of South Africa. Diagnosed as a bone stress injury, he misses three of four Tests and the subsequent T20I series.
• February 2020: Scans reveal a low-grade stress fracture in his right elbow, ruling him out of England’s Sri Lanka tour and the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) with Rajasthan Royals. Rehabilitation is expected to take three months.
• March 2021: Archer’s elbow injury worsens during England’s India tour. He receives an injection, misses two Tests, and is ruled out of the ODI series. Later that month, he undergoes surgery to remove a glass fragment from a tendon in his right hand, injured in January 2021 while cleaning a fish tank. Recovery is combined with elbow rehabilitation.
• April 2021: Cleared for light training by the ECB, but no return timeline is set. Archer is ruled out of the 2021 IPL, which is later rescheduled.
• May 2021: Undergoes surgery for his persistent right elbow injury, expected to sideline him for 10 weeks. Archer expresses concerns about his career if the surgery fails.
• December 2021: Undergoes a second elbow surgery. Ruled out of England’s West Indies tour, with doubts raised about his viability as an all-format player.
• May 2022: Diagnosed with a stress fracture in his lower back, ruling him out for the entire 2022 English summer, including the T20 Blast and IPL 2022 (despite being signed by Mumbai Indians for 2023).
• January–March 2023: Returns to competitive cricket, playing six matches for MI Cape Town in the SA20 (10 wickets) and featuring in England’s ODI and T20I tours of South Africa and Bangladesh.
• April 2023: Makes IPL debut for Mumbai Indians but experiences elbow discomfort after the first match. Misses four games, undergoes a minor elbow procedure in Belgium, and returns briefly before withdrawing mid-season due to persistent elbow issues.
• May 2023: ECB confirms a recurrence of a stress fracture in Archer’s right elbow, ruling him out of the 2023 English summer, including the Ashes.
• November 2023: Experiences elbow pain while training with England at the ODI World Cup in Mumbai, where he was a travelling reserve. Ruled out of England’s white-ball tour of the West Indies.
• December 2023: Plays a Barbados club game without ECB knowledge, taking 4/18. Continues rehabilitation.
• March 2024: Bowls as a substitute for Karnataka in a Sussex tour match, taking two wickets.
• May 2024: Plays a Barbados club game, scoring 54 off 20 balls and taking 3/16. Named in England’s T20 World Cup squad and plays in the T20I series against Pakistan, marking his international return.
• May 2025: Suffers a right thumb injury while fielding for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, forcing withdrawal from England’s ODI series against the West Indies. Expected to be out for at least a month, potentially disrupting plans for a red-ball return with the England Lions and the Test series against India.
• June 2025: Returns to first-class cricket with Sussex in a County Championship match against Durham, his first red-ball game in four years, amid initial confusion over his squad inclusion. England clarifies he is fit and could be available for the second Test against India starting July 2, 2025.