Jofra Archer was selected in England’s provisional squad for the T20 World Cup on Tuesday, setting up a much-awaited international return for one of cricket’s most exciting bowlers whose career has been derailed by injuries.
The 29-year-old Archer has barely featured for England in any format since 2021, mainly because of ongoing issues with his right elbow for which he has undergone two operations. A back injury ruled him out of most of 2022.
The Barbados-born pacer was a breath of fresh air after switching nationality to be eligible for England ahead of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, which he helped his adopted country win on home soil. Then he played a starring role in the Ashes that year.
England will hope he stays fit to play in a four-match Twenty20 series against Pakistan and then the World Cup, which is being held in the Caribbean and the United States.
England’s opening match is against Scotland on June 4 at Kensington Oval in Barbados, which Robert Key — managing director of England men's cricket — said would take on extra poignancy for Archer.
“He’s special,” Key said. “You do everything you can to try to get him back playing. We have taken the longer road this time. As always with Jofra, it’s fingers crossed until he’s out there playing. You know when you're waiting for something really good to happen, you don’t quite believe it until it's there.”
Archer, who hasn't played competitive top-level cricket since May 2023, is currently out of the limelight and playing some club matches in the Caribbean to get himself match-sharp. He might get some matches for English county team Sussex before the Pakistan series, when England will put his fitness to the test.
In a recent interview, Archer said he didn't know “if I’ve got another stop-start year in me.”
“I know it has been a massive toll on him,” Key said. "He hasn’t been around for a while now but every single thing he does creates noise and I think mentally it’s been tough.
“That's why we made sure we try and get it right, let him go back home, spend some time in Barbados, doing the training there rather than staying in England all the time. It’s always been a balance with Jofra, trying to take into account his mental well-being and actually how we get him ready for what we need. Fingers crossed he gets a bit of luck he deserves really.”
Also in the 15-man squad were Jonny Bairstow and Will Jacks, who have hit big knocks in the Indian Premier League in recent weeks. Left-arm spinning allrounder Tom Hartley is the sole uncapped player in the group.
Key said players featuring in the IPL — the list also includes Jos Buttler and Phil Salt — would be returning to England for the Pakistan series starting on May 22, even if that means missing the latter stages of the IPL. The final is on May 26, with the playoff matches beginning May 21.
England will be captained by Buttler, with the team seeking a second T20 World Cup title.
England: Jos Buttler (captain), Moeen Ali, Jofra Archer, Jonny Bairstow, Harry Brook, Sam Curran, Ben Duckett, Tom Hartley, Will Jacks, Chris Jordan, Liam Livingstone, Adil Rashid, Phil Salt, Reece Topley, Mark Wood.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
FILE - England's Jofra Archer participates in a training session ahead of their second T20 cricket match against Bangladesh in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on March 11, 2023. Jofra Archer has been selected in England’s provisional squad for the T20 World Cup to set up a much-awaited international return for one of cricket’s most exciting bowlers. His career has been derailed by injuries. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File)
PHOENIX (AP) — Attorney John Eastman pleaded not guilty on Friday to conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges for his role in the effort to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in Arizona to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Eastman, who devised a strategy to try to persuade Congress not to certify the election, is the first person charged in Arizona’s fake elector case to be arraigned.
Arraignments are scheduled May 21 for 12 other people charged in the case, including nine of the 11 Republicans who had submitted a document to Congress falsely declaring Trump had won Arizona.
The Arizona indictment said Eastman encouraged the GOP electors to cast their votes in December 2020, unsuccessfully pressured state lawmakers to change the election’s outcome in Arizona and told then-Vice President Mike Pence that he could reject Democratic electors in the counting of electoral votes in Congress on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump himself was not charged in the Arizona case but was referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator.
Charges have not yet been made public against Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump-aligned attorney, but he was readily identifiable based on descriptions of the defendants in the indictment. No arraignment date has been scheduled for Giuliani. Arizona authorities say they have been unable to serve Giuliani with the notice of the charges.
Former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows is scheduled to be arraigned on June 7.
Last year, Eastman was indicted on racketeering, conspiracy and other charges in a scheme to overturn the 2020 president election in Georgia. He has pleaded not guilty to the Georgia charges. Eastman also is named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the sprawling federal indictment filed in Washington against Trump for working to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
Arizona is the fourth state where allies of the former president have been charged with using false or unproven claims about voter fraud related to the election.
The 11 people who had been nominated to be Arizona’s Republican electors met in Phoenix on Dec. 14, 2020, to sign a certificate saying they were “duly elected and qualified” electors and claiming that Trump carried the state. A one-minute video of the signing ceremony was posted on social media by the Arizona Republican Party at the time. The document was later sent to Congress and the National Archives, where it was ignored.
Biden won Arizona by more than 10,000 votes.
Of the eight lawsuits that unsuccessfully challenged Biden’s victory in the state, one was filed by the 11 fake Arizona electors, who had asked a federal judge to de-certify the results and block the state of Arizona from sending results to the Electoral College. In dismissing the case, the judge concluded the Republicans had “failed to provide the court with factual support for their extraordinary claims.” Days after that lawsuit was dismissed, the 11 participated in the certificate signing.
Multiple in-person attempts were made to serve Giuliani with the notice but a doorman at his New York City apartment wouldn’t accept it, said Richie Taylor, a spokesperson for Democratic Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office is prosecuting the case. Taylor said efforts by the attorney general’s office to reach Giuliani by phone also were unsuccessful.
FILE - Attorney John Eastman, the architect of a legal strategy aimed at keeping former President Donald Trump in power, talks to reporters after a hearing in Los Angeles, June 20, 2023. Eastman pleaded not guilty on Friday, May 17, 2024, to conspiracy, fraud and forgery charges for his role in the effort to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in Arizona to Joe Biden in the 2020 election. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
