mbulelo smpofu
Brandon Moyo, brandonmalvin9@gmail.com
ENGLAND fast bowler Jofra Archer could return to red-ball cricket for the historic one-off four-day Test match between Zimbabwe and England, scheduled for Trent Bridge in May next year.
This could be Archer’s first Test appearance since February 2021, with his future as a Test cricketer receiving a boost after his central contract was extended beyond the 2025-26 Ashes series.
According to the cricket online website, ESPNCricinfo, England’s captain, Ben Stokes, is confident that Archer is interested in returning to the format despite a recent tug-of-war with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) over his IPL availability.
Archer is one of three England fast bowlers whose central contracts have been extended to October 2026. Brydon Carse, who took 10 wickets in the first Test against New Zealand last week, and Matthew Potts have also had their deals extended by a year.
Speaking in Wellington ahead of England’s second Test against New Zealand, which got underway yesterday, Stokes said that Archer’s ambition to return to the red-ball set-up remains strong. He is said to have even put himself forward for the one-off Test match against Zimbabwe, although he appears unlikely to be available.
“The excitement around Jofra is understandable. The best thing is that he’s back on the field playing. I’m sure he might have thought he would never get the chance to put on an England shirt again. The injuries and surgeries he’s gone through could have ended other players’ careers, so there’s no rushing him back for anything. He is being managed very well by the ECB, and that will certainly continue. But Jof is a man of few words, even over WhatsApp. I had one from him a couple of months ago saying ‘Zimbabwe?’ That shows he is very interested in playing Test cricket for England,” said Stokes.
Talk of Zimbabwe is, however, somewhat far-fetched, given Archer will be involved in the IPL with Rajasthan Royals, who forked out INR 12,5 crore (£1,2 million) for his services in the tournament, which is set to run until May 25. As Archer will not have played any recent red-ball cricket before then, he is unlikely to be selected.
The forthcoming Test will mark the Chevrons’ first visit to England since 2003. The two nations, however, last played bilateral cricket against each other in 2004. Zimbabwe and England have played six Test matches against each other since the Chevrons gained Test status in 1992. From those six games, England won three, while the other three ended in draws. The Chevrons are yet to taste Test victory over England.
The first Test series between the two nations was played in Zimbabwe in the 1996/97 season. The two-match Test series, with one match in Harare and one in Bulawayo, ended 0-0 after both games ended in draws. Three years later in 2000, Zimbabwe played their first Test in England and lost the two-match series 1-0. The first match was played at Lord’s, where the hosts won by an innings and 209 runs, before the Chevrons fought back as a stronger side at Trent Bridge, in a game that ended as a draw, marking their last appearance at the venue.
The last Test series between the two countries was played three years later in 2003 when England completed a 2-0 whitewash. England dominated the two matches, winning the Lord’s Test by an innings and 92 runs before winning by an innings and 69 runs at Chester-Le-Street.
Excitement for next year’s Test has already started to build up. The fact that the two teams have not faced each other in bilateral cricket since 2004 only adds to the anticipation. The two-decade gap stands as the longest period without a bilateral series between any two ICC full members. – @brandon_malvin
