Jofra Archer joins MI Cape Town as wildcard signing

The England quick has taken 153 wickets in 121 T20 appearances across his career but has been plagued by elbow and back injuries since January 2020

Jofra Archer has joined MI Cape Town as a wildcard signing ahead of the inaugural edition of SA20.

The England quick has picked up 153 wickets in 121 T20 appearances across his career, including successful overseas stints in the IPL, Big Bash, BPL and PSL and 12 T20I outings.

Since January 2020, the 27-year-old has spent the majority of his time on the sidelines, recovering from a series of elbow and back problems. In March 2021, he also underwent surgery to remove glass from one of his fingers after suffering a freak injury while cleaning his fish tank.

He hasn't featured on the international stage since March 20, 2021 – a T20I against India in Ahmedabad – while his most recent T20 outing came for Sussex against Kent four months later.

^{Archer hasn't featured for England since March 2021 and has only been used sporadically by Sussex since then [Surjeet Yadav/Getty Images]}

However, he has spent the past fortnight in the UAE as part of an England Lions red-ball training camp and made a positive return to action on November 23, regularly pushing the speed gun up to 90mph on day one of a three-day warm-up fixture against England's Test squad.

Back in October, England's leadership were described as "cautiously optimistic" that Archer could make his return to international cricket as soon as January 2023 when the ODI squad take on South Africa in a three-match series.

This contract news, combined with his performance for the Lions and retention by Mumbai Indians for the upcoming IPL season, are all signs his recovery is heading in the right direction.

The SA20 is scheduled to run from January 10 to February 11, with a short break to accommodate the South Africa-England series.

Archer will join England teammates Sam Curran, Liam Livingstone and Olly Stone at MI Cape Town while Afghanistan allrounder Rashid Khan is also on the franchise's books.

As a wildcard signing, Archer's wage will not count towards MI Cape Town's salary cap. Tournament commissioner, Graeme Smith, says these signings will give teams "an opportunity to add another world-class player to their squad".