Jofra Archer, who was eyeing a return to cricket action in the upcoming Vitality T20 Blast, has been ruled out of action with stress fracture to his lower back.
England fast bowler Jofra Archer’s torrid time with injuries doesn’t seem to end anytime soon as he suffers another setback on his comeback hopes. Archer’s international career could be in jeopardy as he is set to miss another English summer with a stress fracture to his lower back.
Archer, who last played for England in March last year, was expected to make his long awaited comeback from elbow injury for Sussex in the upcoming T20 Blast next week. The pacer had also planned to play warm-up matches ahead of their opening fixture.
The England and Wales Cricket Board revealed the unfortunate news in a statement.
“No timeframe has been set for his return. A management plan will be determined following further specialist opinion over the coming days.”
Archer has gone through three surgeries in the last 14 months, one to remove shards of glass from his hand and two on his elbow. He had attempted a comeback in May 2021, playing one T20 Blast and Royal London Cup warm-up match before he was diagnosed with stress fracture in elbow, needing second operation in December.
Earlier this year, Archer trained with the England squad in Barbados as a part of his rehabilitation on their T20I and Test tours. His recovery was on track and looked hopeful to return in estimated time.
Archer had admitted a few weeks back that he had feared for his career during his long layoff due to injury issues. This latest setback will raise questions over his future and his career as an all-format player for England. It would not be surprising if the 27-year-old gives up the longer format to preserve his career.
The ECB are currently grappling with a long list of English fast bowlers affected by injuries. Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Sam Curran, Ollie Robinson and Olly Stone are among the seamers who have been battling injuries and were not considered for the first Test squad of the summer. Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Fisher, who made their debuts on the Caribbean tour earlier this year, are the latest entrants in the list.
“It’s definitely a concern and trying to find out why this is happening is something that we need to look into. We need to make sure that hopefully, it never happens again. But as you know with all fast bowlers, these unfortunately are the things that do happen – stress fractures in particular,”
Rob Key, England’s managing director of men’s cricket, said.
