Jofra Archer out of Ashes after recurrence of elbow stress fracture

Jofra Archer is to miss a second successive summer, and a second successive Ashes series, after scans revealed a recurrence of a stress fracture to his right elbow. The ECB confirmed the news when releasing the squad for next month’s one-off Test against Ireland, for which Jonny Bairstow returns after recovering from a triple leg break and will take the wicketkeeping gloves from Ben Foakes, who has been left out altogether.

It is the third time Archer has suffered the injury, which forced him to leave England’s tour of South Africa in 2019-20 and returned to keep him out of the 2021 T20 World Cup and that winter’s Ashes in Australia. He then sat out last summer with a stress fracture to his lower back. Archer last played in England in July 2021 and, including an game for Surrey’s Second XI the previous month, has made only four competitive appearances in this country since September 2020 having been struck by a succession of injuries.

“It has been a frustrating and upsetting period for Jofra Archer,” said Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director for men’s cricket. “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.”

Jimmy Anderson is named in the 15-player squad despite the minor groin strain that forced him to miss the final three days of Lancashire’s County Championship draw with Somerset last week. He is joined by Mark Wood, currently on paternity leave as he awaits the birth of his first child, with Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson providing