Archer, who has been out with a long-term injury, recently joined the England cricket team on their white-ball tour in the West Indies. He returned to his birthplace, Barbados, on Friday to continue his rehabilitation for a persistent right elbow issue. On Sunday, he played for his former school team, Foundation, in a three-day match against Lords in the Barbados Cricket Association league. Archer performed well, taking 4 wickets for 18 runs, before heading back to the UK.

But it appears he did so without England’s knowledge, with England director of men’s cricket Rob Key, speaking after announcing a Test squad for the tour of India on Monday, saying: “I’m not aware of that — I’ll find out.”

The Cricketer website mentioned that Archer took one wicket with his left-arm spin.

The 28-year-old fast bowler’s last professional match was in May. He had to miss the Ashes due to a recurring stress fracture in his right elbow, which has been a persistent issue since his breakthrough year in 2019.

Archer, who wasn’t part of the Test squad, spent only three days in Mumbai as England’s “travelling reserve” for the recent 50-over World Cup. Despite not playing, he was given a two-year central contract in October.

Although Archer wasn’t allowed to enter the Indian Premier League auction to avoid rushing his return, England is cautious about bringing him back too quickly. They want to ensure he’s in good shape for the 2024 T20 World Cup in June.

“Jofra was bowling out here (in Barbados),” Key added. “As you often see with Jofra, he rocks up, ends up bowling 95 miles an hour and he looks like he’s an absolute genius.

“But we’re just going to take it slow with him. We don’t want to put any sort of deadlines on him. That’s what we’ve done in the past, we’re trying to learn from what we’ve done in the past with Jofra.

“Actually now we’re taking control of him coming back. We’re not going to say, ‘you need to get back for this part here’.”