England to count on Jofra Archer’s ‘fear factor’ against Pakistan

England will be counting on the “fear factor” of right-arm pacer Jofra Archer during their four-match T20I series against Pakistan which will begin on May 22 in Leeds.

Archer, who turned 29 in April, has not played professional cricket ever since pulling out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 due to discomfort in his elbow. However, he has started playing domestic cricket and his long-awaited comeback is now just a matter of days.

He recently participated in the Second Eleven Championship clash, Archer was back to his best, bowling at Beckenham on May 17. England’s all-rounder Sam Curran is counting on Archer for the upcoming series.

"It's incredibly exciting to have a player of his quality," all-rounder Curran said on Monday. "I'm sure England fans and players are extremely buzzed to have him back.

"He's obviously got that extra pace and fear factor we can bring to opposition. We all hope his injuries are behind him now.

"Jof's had a really tough couple of years — we all hope he can come back and do what he does for England and bring the A game that we know he's got."

England are the current T20 champions and they are now eager to get back to their best form before their World Cup defence begins in the West Indies in June. Jos Buttler’s men had a terrible 50-over World Cup last year in India and they don’t want to repeat history this year.

"The messaging from Jos [Buttler] and the coaching staff was they wanted to get the group back together and we probably didn't have that last time," said Curran.

"We've been apart for a while so these games are going to be really crucial. We want to be playing as a team and get used to our roles.

"There's a lot of buzz around the group, it seems like we're back to our energy and it seems like the boys are really fizzed about this trophy hopefully coming back."

Squads

England: 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.

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Khan

Schedule of series

May 22: First T20I at Leeds

May 25: Second T20I at Birmingham

May 28: Third T20I at Cardiff

May 30: Fourth T20I at The Oval

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