NEWS
Follow UsJofra Archer's inclusion in England's squad for the upcoming Tests against New Zealand and India is in doubt after the pacer suffered elbow injury on Friday while playing country cricket for Sussex.
Archer could only bowl five overs in the second innings in the county match against Kent before complaining about sore elbow. He had bowled 13 overs in the first innings and claimed two wickets.
Archer, who first suffered the injury in January during England's tour of India, had a surgery in March which kept him out of the now-suspended Indian Premier League 2021. The country stint with Sussex was his bid to return to full fitness to be in contention for the upcoming Test series.
Sussex coach Ian Salisbury told the press that there was confusion regarding injury status after the Archer told Sussex captain Ben Brown that he was unable to open the bowling.
“I think there was some confusion about the state of Jofra’s elbow. Ben thought he was going to bowl but his elbow was sore and there was confusion over that and he couldn’t bowl. If you saw today, he’s not going to bowl tomorrow. You’ll have to ask the ECB,” Salisbury said.
“Any time that Jofra can’t bowl you’re going to be frustrated as a leader, or as a team. But it happens. In sport, people get injured. That’s life. That’s sport. He’s still willing to be out there because he wants Sussex to win. They [the ECB] had to give him permission to play this game. He’s not our player so they had to give permission,” he added.
England has a packed international calendar starting with the two-match Test series against New Zealand next month, followed by the five-match series against India and The Ashes in December. They are also scheduled to tour Bangladesh and Pakistan for limited-overs series before The Ashes.