The England and Wales Board (ECB) have confirmed that fast bowler Jofra Archer will not be playing any cricket for the rest of the summer and will also miss the upcoming Ashes 2023 series, as they announced the England squad for Ireland Test.
Archer had returned to international cricket in January this year after more than a year on the sidelines due to elbow and back issues. He played in the SA20 and then the ODI series in South Africa, before moving to India for the IPL 2023.
He made a belated debut for Mumbai Indians (MI), but only played a handful of matches. In between, he flew to Belgium to meet the doctor about his elbow issues and despite playing one more game for MI after return, he was ruled out of the tournament and returned home.
Recent scans revealed a recurrence of a stress fracture to his right elbow which cut short his stint in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the Mumbai Indians.
Archer is now set to undergo rehabilitation with the England and Sussex medical teams, who will work on his injury management.
“It has been a frustrating and upsetting period for Jofra Archer. He was making good progress until a recurrence of the elbow injury, which kept him out for an extended period previously. We wish him the best of luck with his recovery. I’m sure we will see Jofra back to his best and winning games for England, whatever the format. Hopefully, sooner rather than late,” ECB Managing Director for England Men’s Cricket, Rob Key said in a statement.
Archer's elbow issues date back to early 2020 when he sustained a stress fracture that sidelined him for the first half of the year. In early 2021, he had to go under the knife after a freak injury at home. A stress injury on his back in May 2022 put him on the shelf for the entirety of the year.
Meanwhile, ECB also announced the England squad for the one-off Test against Ireland in June.
The squad sees Jonny Bairstow returning to the team after a long layoff since breaking his leg in a freak accident. He will also be most likely to keep wickets as Ben Foakes has been dropped.
The rest of the squad was largely as expected, with Anderson named among five fast-bowling options alongside the spinner, Jack Leach. Chris Woakes, whose last Test came on the tour to the West Indies in 2022, returns, as does Mark Wood after he was rested for the New Zealand series earlier this year.
Veteran England pacer James Anderson suffered a groin injury while playing for Lancashire. Matt Potts is also in contention for a spot alongside the frontline pair of Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson if Anderson is not fit.
England Men's Test Squad:
Ben Stokes (capt), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
