Jofra Archer an Ashes doubt after returning from IPL with elbow issue

Jofra Archer’s tortuous search for full fitness has taken another frustrating twist, with the fast bowler ruled out of the remainder of the Indian Premier League season and returning immediately to England to recover from his latest elbow surgery and improve his chances of participating in the Ashes.

Archer has played just five of Mumbai Indians’ first 10 games in the IPL and will now miss their last four regular fixtures, including Tuesday’s against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Wankhede Stadium, and any in the post-season playoffs. He had minor elbow surgery in Belgium last month and despite rapidly returning to action has not felt comfortable.

“Archer has been recovering from right elbow surgery,” the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement. “However, pushing through the discomfort whilst recently playing, hoping it will settle, has proven challenging. Therefore, it has been agreed for him to return to the UK for a period of rest and rehabilitation to give him the best opportunity for a full recovery.”

It is more than three years since Archer’s elbow injury first flared up, forcing him out of a Test match in South Africa in January 2020, and two years since the first operation intended to cure it. At the time, England’s bowling coach, Jon Lewis, shrugged this off as “a small blip on his journey”.

Last month was the fifth time Archer had undergone surgery on the same joint, and the player’s continued struggles with the relatively light workloads of Twenty20 cricket make his participation in this summer’s Ashes, which starts in just over five weeks, look increasingly remote. His early return from India will, however, allow the ECB’s medical department to oversee his recovery with that target, and