Jofra Archer bowls 14 overs on his County cricket return against Durham

Jofra Archer’s return to first-class cricket was decent, with the speedster bowling 14 overs for Sussex against Durham in a County Championship fixture at Chester-le-Street. Playing in his first first-class match since May 2021, Archer looked clinical, picking up a wicket, and showed good signs of making a return to Test cricket. 

The Barbados-born’s last Test appearance came in February 2021. Since then, he has undergone an elbow surgery and suffered a stress fracture in his back, forcing him out of the majority of games, including Ashes tours and the 2023 ODI World Cup. Despite limited appearances in white-ball formats, Archer is eyeing a comeback in the longer format, and his spell against Durham is being closely viewed for a possible recall for the second Test against India at Edgbaston starting July 2.

07:20 PM · Jun 23, 2025

I know my body can hold up to it: jofra Archer

On Day 2 of the match, Archer bowled 14 overs across three spells and finished with figures of 1 for 28. He dismissed Durham opener Emilio Gay, making it his first wicket in red-ball cricket since May 2021. Notably, he didn’t take the new ball; he came on first change after Ollie Robinson.

Archer’s most impressive spell came after Lunch, where he troubled Gay with a series of short-pitched deliveries and continued with another brilliant spell after Tea. He managed to bowl six maidens in his 14 overs and looked comfortable throughout the day. Speaking to the media at the end of the day, Archer was optimistic about his return.

“Now I know my body can hold up to it, the mental part of the game [is a greater issue]. Over the next couple of days, I’m going to have a battle with it. It’s all good. I’ll keep trucking along. When the scoreboard got to 50 overs I was like, ‘It’s time to come off now’ but we got to the end of day and it wasn’t that bad. It was OK. The pitch didn’t do much. When the ball is moving around it feels a bit more exciting. I just want to get through the game. I’m glad I’ve finished a day of four-day cricket,” he told BBC Radio Sussex.

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