Jofra Archer set for competitive return in South Africa T20 cricket league, live on Sky Sports Cricket

Jofra Archer will return to competitive cricket for the first time in almost 18 months as he works his way back to full fitness ahead of a bumper year of cricket for England.

With an Ashes series and ODI World Cup on the horizon, fast bowler Archer will play two matches for MI Cape Town in the South Africa T20 cricket league, the SA20, which will be live on Sky Sports Cricket.

Elbow problems and a stress fracture to his back have kept Archer sidelined since March 2021 but he had a solid showing on his first outing in November, bowling nine overs as the Lions took on England in Abu Dhabi before the Pakistan Test series.

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Live SA20

During the training camp in Abu Dhabi, England's managing director of men's cricket, Rob Key, confirmed Archer's phased return to cricket.

"Our plan for him is he will play two games in the South African franchise [competition], which will be his first competitive cricket. If he gets through that, we will pick him for the South Africa ODI series, so he will go from four overs to 10 overs," Key said in November.

Archer has been picked for MI Cape Town for SA20 and their first game is on Tuesday against Paarl Royals followed by a match against the Durban Super Giants on Friday.

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If Archer comes through his two matches unscathed, he will hope to feature for England after he was included in the squad for the three-match series against the Proteas, which starts on January 27 in Bloemfontein.

Archer himself is hoping to be fully fit in time for the ODI World Cup later this year, while England's Test captain Ben Stokes hopes he will be able to call on the paceman during the Ashes series in the summer.

The England fast bowler will be among a number of familiar faces at MI Cape Town, where he is set to be joined by Sam Curran, Olly Stone and Liam Livingstone.

The likes of Eoin Morgan, Jos Buttler, Adil Rashid, Jason Roy and Phil Salt will all take part in the tournament, while Harry Brook was part of Joburg Super Kings' squad but was withdrawn from the competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board to manage his workload.

All the matches from the SA20 league will be shown live on Sky Sports Cricket, after a five-year rights deal was announced.

The competition will run for a month and comprises 33 matches featuring six franchises made up of several household names from around the world.

The six teams will play each other twice in a round-robin stage, before the semi-finals and final.