Cricket News: Why is Jofra Archer ruled out of the 2023 England season? | Details on why Jofra Archer has been ruled out
Jofra Archer has suffered yet another injury setback. The England fast bowler will miss the upcoming season due to a recurrence of the stress fracture in his troublesome right elbow, the ECB confirmed. This includes the Ashes.
Archer struggled for rhythm and momentum in IPL 2023, playing just five games for Mumbai Indians. He was in and out of the side, eventually finishing with a couple of wickets at an economy rate of 9.5. He ended up leaving the tournament early, with his injury fate revealed upon returning home.
Will Jofra Archer be available for the 2023 ODI World Cup?
England are still hopeful that the fast bowler will be fit and ready for their ODI World Cup defence in India in October. Rob Key, England’s managing director of men’s cricket, retains hope that Archer will be back soon and likened his situation to Pat Cummins’ early years in international cricket.
Cummins, who now captains Australia in Test and ODI cricket, has been one of the world’s leading fast bowlers for some time now.
“People like Pat Cummins missed a lot of cricket at the early stage of his career,” Key said. “Now Australia have seen the benefit. He’s been able to put season after season together. I’m hoping at some point Jofra, who deserves a bit of luck to be honest, because the poor lad, who is pretty distraught with what’s happened, you just hope that luck turns for him at some point.”
Key also said that Archer is willing to play Test cricket, putting to bed rumours that the fast bowler was keen to shed the longest format of the game.
“The one thing I’ll say about Jofra. You sometimes read and you sometimes get the feeling that people think he’s going to go down a white-ball road, that he’s not interested in Test cricket, that there are other things on his mind that come first. That’s absolutely not the case. He is desperate to play all forms of cricket. He’s desperate to play Test cricket as well. And I hope that he gets the chance to do that.
“It’s going to be a fairly taxing road to go down to get this fixed and get this sorted, but I’m sure we’ll see him back at some point.”
Archer can’t think about Tests right now – Ian Bishop
Ian Bishop, however, had a different viewpoint. He believes Archer was overbowled in Test cricket, particularly in the 2019 Ashes and tour to New Zealand after that. Now, a return to Tests needs to be put on the backburner until Archer can get through white-ball matches unscathed, according to the former West Indian fast bowler.
“There was a period when Jofra was overbowled. I sat there watching it, and I’m thinking: what madness is this, that you are going to give this guy over after over,” Bishop said. “I’m sorry to use this statement, I don’t know how else to say it – you are killing the goose that lays the golden egg for you.
“Workload management – as much as we hate it – and strengthening the core strength in the body is going to be the key. But do not overbowl them. I personally feel that I would not allow Jofra to think about red-ball cricket, at least for a while in the next couple of seasons. It’s too much.”
The 2023 Ashes begins on June 16 at Edgbaston.
