If the chat is true and Jofra Archer has indeed added himself to the list for this weekend’s Indian Premier League mega auction then it will come as a slap in the face to England and their hopes of winning the Ashes in Australia next winter.

The threat of a three-year ban from the lucrative Indian Premier League means Jofra Archer will appear in this weekend’s auction, potentially complicating England’s plans to nurse him back to Test cricket.

Quietly, with little fuss, Jofra Archer has pulled together six months of cricket that provides enough evidence for England fans to dare to dream that he could be involved in a hotly-anticipated Ashes series that begins exactly one year today.