Jofra Archer Ruled Out of India Tests, T20 World Cup And Ashes With Recurrence of Elbow Injury

New Delhi: England pace bowler Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the entire Test series against India, the T20 World Cup and the Ashes this year following a recurrence of stress fracture of his right elbow.

Archer was not expected to play the five-Test matches against India but an official confirmation hadn’t yet arrived.

On Thursday, as England battled to keep themselves relevant in the first Test, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) revealed that the right-arm pacer has been ruled out.

“The England and Wales Cricket Board can confirm that England fast bowler Jofra Archer underwent further scans on his injured right elbow last week. The scans revealed that he has suffered a recurrence of a stress fracture of his right elbow,” said ECB in a statement.

“In response to these findings, he has been ruled out for the rest of the year and will miss the current LV= Insurance Test series against India, the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and the Ashes series in Australia,” it added.

Archer had tried to get into competitive cricket following surgery in May as he played the T20 Blast domestic competition.

“The 26-year-old, who had an operation in May to remove a bone fragment from his elbow, returned to play last month. As part of his return-to-bowling programme, he became aware of increasing discomfort in his elbow during matches for Sussex in the Vitality Blast and a 50-over friendly against Oxfordshire. The operation is not related to the stress fracture that sidelined the player previously,” the ECB said further.

“He will now spend time on an extended break from cricket before returning for a medical review in early autumn.”

This is a big blow for England as Archer would have been handy in the Ashes in the Australian conditions as he can extract extra bounce from the surface.