(Cricket news) Jofra Archer’s frustrations just keep getting worse now that he won’t be able to play for England in the remainder of the summer, effectively keeping him out of the Ashes. His time playing for the Mumbai Indians in the current season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) was cut short as recent tests revealed a stress fracture in his right elbow that had previously occurred.
The England and Sussex medical staff will concentrate on managing Archer’s injuries as he goes through rehabilitation. When Mumbai Indians decided to dismiss Archer for the remainder of the season, ECB issued a statement claiming that the 28-year-old was “pushing through the discomfort whilst recently playing” but was unable to participate in the IPL any more.
“It has been a frustrating and upsetting period for Jofra Archer,” said ECB Managing Director for England Men’s Cricket, Rob Key. “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 later.”
The Mumbai assault was supposed to be led by Archer in Jasprit Bumrah’s absence during the IPL, however he only appeared in five of the team’s ten games. Only two wickets were taken by him at a 9.50 economy rate.
The most recent setback adds to Archer’s long list of injuries that have plagued him for the majority of the last three years. The legendary pacer made a comeback to international cricket in January 2023, but just for the matches against South Africa and Bangladesh in the white-ball formats.
Archer’s elbow problems started in the beginning of 2020, when he suffered a stress fracture that kept him out for the first six months of the year. He needed surgery in the early months of 2021 due to an unexpected accident at home. He missed the entire year of 2022 due to a stress injury to his back in May.
In January 2023, Archer made his long-awaited comeback to international cricket. He participated in seven games (four ODIs and three T20Is) against South Africa and Bangladesh. In just his second game back against South Africa, he had indications of rediscovering his previous rhythm, recording his best ODI statistics (6/40), which is a career high.
James Anderson had to leave the field due to a minor groyne strain sustained during a Lancashire County Championship encounter. Given the proximity of the Ashes, there were concerns regarding the injury, but after the fast bowler was selected for the Test team for the match against Ireland, those doubts have been allayed.
“I’m not worried about it,” Anderson told the BBC’s Tailenders podcast.”It’s obviously not great getting injured but it’s probably the best outcome for what it is, because it’s a low-grade thing and I think in a couple of weeks I’ll be back to full fitness,” he said.”It’s frustrating because you always want to feel good and get enough bowling in before a series and you want to be fresh, so it’s now about trying to plan the best route through this summer.”
But the 40-year-old said it wasn’t ideal because he wanted some experience playing before the big summer. Although Anderson is on the team, he does not want to rush things because the Ashes are immediately following the Ireland Test, which starts in early June.
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