England white-ball captain Jos Buttler has warned against placing too much faith in the returning Jofra Archer. The 32-year-old has faced Archer in the ongoing SA20 and believes the pacer is developing well.
Archer, who plays for the Mumbai Indians Cape Town, recently recovered from a long-term elbow injury. SA20 is his first professional stint since July 2021.
Buttler told Sky Sports that he was delighted to see Archer back in the England squad after his performance in the SA20.
He wants to be cautious, however, because the right-arm bowler has recently recovered from a string of injuries.
Jos Buttler stated, “It is exciting to bring someone like Jofra back into the squad. I played against him in the SA20 and he was getting it down at a fair pace. It must have been incredibly tough for him to come back after such a long period of time. When we see him, his performance level is so high but coming back from long-term injuries, don’t expect too much from him too soon.”
“It is fantastic to see him back on the pitch, doing what he loves doing, and in such a huge year for English cricket, with an Ashes series in the summer and then a 50-over World Cup later in the year, fingers crossed Jofra will available for all those things.”
“We don’t have many games before the World Cup” – Jos Buttler
Jos Buttler, who led England to T20 World Cup glory last year, also stated that there will be plenty of competition for places due to the lack of ODIs before the tournament in India.
The Lancashire cricketer believes that the limited-overs series against Bangladesh in March will be a good warm-up for the ODI World Cup in 2023.
“We don’t have many games before the World Cup so they are all crucial for us to try and nail down some positions and give people some confidence in role clarity. We have a decent idea of the squad we want to take to the World Cup but there is competition for places and people pushing and that drives people and standards.”
“The series in Bangladesh will be a vital one, probably the only real chance we will get to experience conditions that we might at the World Cup in India,” Jos Buttler concluded.
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