Comeback trail: Jofra Archer has not played cricket since July 2021 due to injury woes
(Picture: Getty Images)Jofra Archer will step up his injury comeback by joining an England Lions training camp in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) next month.
England have announced a 15-man Lions squad to take part in the three-week camp, which includes a three-day warm-up against the main Test side in Abu Dhabi ahead of their tour of Pakistan.
Rehan Ahmed, the 18-year-old spinner touted for a Test call-up, is named, as is Durham seamer Matthew Potts, who enjoyed an England breakthrough this summer but was left out of the Pakistan tour in favour of a ‘horses for courses’ approach.
Sussex batter Tom Haines gets a belated first Lions call, 12 months after being left out of the tour of Australia despite finishing 2021 as the County Championship’s leading run scorer. He is one of several new faces but Alex Lees, dropped by England and left off their central contracts list earlier this month, is not involved.
In addition to the Lions group, which will fly to the UAE on November 6, fast bowlers Archer, Saqib Mahmood and Brydon Carse will all take part in the camp as part of their rehab from injuries, while James Anderson, Jamie Overton, Ollie Robinson, Jack Leach and new call-up Will Jacks will all be involved before the rest of the main Test squad arrive later in the month.
Archer has not played cricket since July 2021 following a series of elbow injuries and a stress fracture of the back but remains integral to England’s plans. There is no firm timeline being put on his return but England are hopeful he could play some part in their ODI series in South Africa in the New Year.
The Lions squad has a heavy developmental focus, with several more senior figures not involved as the ECB’s performance director Mo Bobat confirmed that “there are a number of players that have been encouraged and supported to take up other opportunities at home and overseas”.
Sam Billings, for instance, who captained the Lions against South Africa this summer, is not included ahead of a busy winter on the T20 franchise circuit, and nor is former Test opener Dom Sibley, though Haseeb Hameed and Dan Lawrence do feature, the former having been dropped by England following the Ashes defeat in Australia last winter. Yorkshire seamer Matthew Fisher is the other Test capped player involved, along with Potts.
Spinners Matt Parkinson, Mason Crane and Dom Bess - all of whom have played Test cricket - miss out in favour of untried options in Liam Patterson-White, Jack Carson and Ahmed.
England Lions training group: Tom Abell (Somerset), Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Josh Bohannon (Lancashire), Jack Carson (Sussex), Sam Conners (Derbyshire), Sam Cook (Essex), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Haseeb Hameed (Nottinghamshire), Tom Haines (Sussex), Jack Haynes (Worcestershire), Lyndon James (Nottinghamshire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire), Matthew Potts (Durham), Jamie Smith (Surrey).
