Jofra Archer will miss a third successive summer, and a second successive Ashes series, after scans revealed a recurrence of a stress fracture to his right elbow. The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed the news when announcing 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.
Rob Key, the ECB’s managing director for men’s cricket, said Archer was “pretty distraught” about his latest setback, which was confirmed after the bowler’s premature return from the IPL last week. It is the third time the 28-year-old has suffered the injury, which appeared first in January 2020 and then again the following August, while he sat out last summer with a stress fracture to his lower back.
