Jofra Archer: 'You’re just counting the days down until you’re free again'

Fast bowler has spent most of the year in biosecure bubbles but has been on top of his game in the Indian Premier League

Jofra Archer is thinking of buying a calendar. “Just to cross them down and feel like the days are going faster,” he says. As he nears the end of his latest confinement, with the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League, the days and nights have begun to weigh heavy. There are worse places to be imprisoned than a luxury Dubai hotel with access to a private beach. He gets that. Even so, he craves escape. “It will be over soon,” he says. “You’re just counting the days down until you’re free again.”

Freedom will be sweet and fleeting. Rajasthan’s last fixture of the regular season is on Sunday. But get all the way to the final on 10 November and Archer – like his England teammates Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler – will have five days to enjoy the comforts of home before flying out for the white-ball tour of South Africa. The next assignment. The next bubble.

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