England will play their first Test match in five months against New Zealand at Lord's on Thursday without Jofra Archer. Archer was described as "unavailable" for the first Test by Rob Key, England's managing director, when the squad was announced, despite the fact he is centrally contracted.
Why is Archer 'unavailable'?
When England announced their 15-man squad - which only covers the first of three Tests against New Zealand - Key said that Archer was "unavailable" and that England's focus was on "building him up for red-ball cricket after a long six months on the road".
Archer returned to Test cricket after a four-year absence last summer during England's drawn series against India, and played the first three Tests of their Ashes tour to Australia before he was ruled out with a side strain. He then travelled to Sri Lanka and India for the T20 World Cup, then returned to India for the IPL shortly after England's semi-final defeat.
It is Archer's involvement in the IPL - where he took 25 wickets to help Rajasthan Royals reach the second qualifying final - that has effectively ruled him out of the first Test. He has not bowled more than four overs in a match since the third Ashes Test in December, and travelled home to Barbados for a short break after the Royals' exit last Friday.
Could England have stopped Archer playing in the IPL?
In theory, yes - but they might have risked losing him altogether. The ECB agreed with the BCCI after the 2024 IPL - where some England players left early for a T20I series against Pakistan - that their players signed in the IPL would be granted No-Objection Certificates (NOCs) for the full season moving forwards.
The BCCI also tightened its rules ahead of the 2025 season to stipulate that players who failed to register for a mega-auction would not be eligible for the subsequent season, and that players who withdrew from contracts would be banned for two future seasons.
Archer did not initially enter the mega-auction for the 2025 season but was a late addition to the longlist after discussions between his representatives, the ECB and the BCCI. He was subsequently signed for INR 12.5 crore (around £1.2 million at the time) by the Royals, who have since retained him.
Could Archer have increased his workloads at the IPL?
It is not uncommon for players to bring red balls to the IPL and prepare for Test cricket while in India, though Kumar Sangakkara - the Royals' head coach - said that it would have been "very difficult" for Archer to increase his workload while bowling four overs in a match.
"Especially [for] a Test match, it's very difficult to get your bowling loads up very soon when you're only bowling four overs, so he needs time to get that done," Sangakkara said last month. "The ECB was gracious enough to let him stay and understand that he'll be fine once he gets his bowling loads up, once he leaves the IPL."
What do England's management make of the situation?
Key passed off Archer's unavailability as a reflection of "the world we live in", with national boards increasingly competing with IPL franchises over players.
"We're always trying to do the dance between making sure that we have our best players playing and available as much as possible [but] there's a hell of a lot of cricket, and actually, you want them to be coming in fresh, ready, and have enough bowling under them so they can perform at their best," he added.
What does Ben Stokes make of it?
Stokes, England's captain, said that understood "both sides of the story" in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday. "I totally understand people's frustrations around it, but there is another side to it," he said. "A lot of it has to do with the landscape of cricket, and where it is at the moment," he said.
"There is a situation where it could get messy, and players like Jofra might not play for England again if you handle it in a different way - and that is not good for anyone. Jofra has shown that he's committed and loves playing for England; just because he's not available for this first Test match does not change that."
How has the situation gone down in England?
Not well. Mark Butcher, the former England opener, told the Wisden podcast that Archer's unavailability was "absolutely ridiculous", and undermined the purpose of central contracts.
Michael Atherton, the former England captain, made a similar argument in his Times column. "From reluctance to acceptance, England's attitude [to the IPL] is now one of complete subservience, whereby they have given up any pretence of control of their players for that two-month period," Atherton wrote.
Will Archer be back for the second Test?
Not necessarily. Brendon McCullum, England's head coach, told the BBC on Tuesday: "We've seen in the past we can leave Jof to his own devices, work on his game and follow a plan that has been set. He turns up having followed that plan to a tee. When we see him, we'll work out where he sits and if he's available for the second Test; if not, we'll look at the third Test."
How about the rest of the summer?
Archer is expected to lead England's attack during their white-ball series (five T20Is, three ODIs) against India in July, and will then play for Southern Brave on a £400,000 contract in the Hundred. England then play Pakistan in a three-Test series which starts three days after the Hundred's final, potentially leaving Archer with another tight turnaround.