England Cricket comes up with a sensational update on Jofra Archer's future in international cricket

Former England cricketer and current managing team director Rob Key has provided a huge update on the return of the Three Lions' premium fast bowler Jofra Archer, who has been plagued with injuries for the past one year.

Archer has been out from all sorts of cricketing action since May 2023 with his last appearance at the competitive level coming for the Mumbai Indians in the previous IPL edition.

The right-arm fast bowler, who sustained a recurring elbow injury, will be staging his comeback at the international level through England's upcoming home T20I series against Pakistan. 

The reigning World T20 Champions are slated to play a 4-match series against the Men in Green in late May and it will give both the teams, a perfect opportunity to fine-tune their side ahead of this year's T20 World Cup.

Jofra Archer, who could not feature for England in last year's Ashes series as well as the ICC Cricket World Cup in India, is most likely to board the flight with the English team to USA and West Indies. The Three Lions will be trying their best to retain the T20 WC title which they won during the 2022 edition in Australia. 

England had defeated Pakistan in the finale at the iconic venue of Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Under the captaincy of Jos Buttler, the English team had become World champions across both white-ball formats after Eoin Morgan led the team towards their maiden 50-over WC title in 2019 at Lord's.

This time around with the addition of Jofra Archer, who was not there in the 2022 edition due to injury, England will come up as an even more lethal bowling side. 

Rob Key updates Jofra Archer's development, claims the latter is bowling very fast

While speaking to Sky Sports recently, Rob Key updated that Jofra Archer was bowling very quickly during his time in Bangalore earlier this year with English county team Sussex.

Archer was a part of the pre-season tour team and therein, those who watched him closely, are of the view that Archer will be back at his best upon his return and bowl the way he used to during his initial years.

"Jofra, he's been out on Sussex's pre-season out in India. He bowled quickly out there, he bowled really well." - Key told Sky Sports. 

Rob Key also updated that Jofra Archer is currently in West Indies to play some club cricket to get used to the conditions over there and also prepare for the series against Pakistan.

Key then expressed that there will be a bit of caution with his situation, given the fact that he is quite prone to injuries. 

"He's now just gone back in the Caribbean, where he is going to play a little bit of club cricket, stuff like that - all about getting himself ready for that World T20. He'll play hopefully the Pakistan series. But it's always fingers crossed at the moment with Jofra." - Key concluded. 

Jofra Archer to not play Test cricket until 2025

The England team director also revealed that ECB are reluctant to push Jofra Archer to the limit after such a long lay-off and therefore, he won't be playing any Test cricket until next year. The Three Lions are slated to welcome Sri-Lanka and West Indies for a 3-match Test series on home later this year.