England pace bowler Jofra Archer has said that he was in a dark place during his long recovery phase from an elbow injury and he also had doubts regarding his career. Archer, who is yet to confirm his return, said that his primary focus is on remaining injury-free for a year now as well. However, Jofra Archer hasn’t played for England since early 2021, as he underwent multiple elbow surgeries. He also missed key events such as the 2021 Ashes series against Australia and the T20 World Cup too and he is likely to miss the upcoming home summer as well.

In his column for The Daily Mail, the 27-year old shared: “After my first operation last May, my right elbow felt no different at all. Obviously, I wasn’t going to fully know whether it had been successful until I started bowling, but what I can say is that things immediately felt different after my second one in December. Now, nearly five months down the line, it’s a relief the way things are. At one point, I thought I was going to lose my contract when things weren’t going well, but now I have confidence about what the future holds. Part of that is down to them not rushing me back.”

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He further added: “Having gone into a dark place last summer after the first op, I can see why when people are not on the good side of situations like this they sometimes have a downward spiral in terms of mental health. It’s natural for anyone to worry about the future in that kind of situation, but not having to chase a contract gave me the time to rest properly.”

The 2019 World Cup winner will play for Sussex’s T20 Blast fixture against Glamorgan on May 26 as he is preparing for his international return. However, he also stated that he is not looking too far ahead now and said that he wants to play in all three formats for England as well.

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“As for Test cricket this summer, I simply haven’t thought that far ahead. I’ve not had any prompts from anyone, telling me I’m a one-format player as yet. I still want to play everything, but my first task is the Blast and if I don’t play that properly, then I won’t be able to play Test cricket. I am not setting ambitious targets just yet. All I want is to stay on the park for a full year without any more setbacks,” Jofra Archer concluded.