Jofra Archer’s Test comeback appears set to be delayed after he was ruled out of the upcoming one-day series against West Indies with a thumb injury.
Archer sustained the ligament injury while fielding for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League this month and will miss the entirety of the three-match series, which starts at Edgbaston next Friday.
The 30-year-old had already been left out of the subsequent T20 series in the hope that he could instead make a return to red-ball cricket for the England Lions against India ‘A’ at the start of June.
That would have paved the way for a potential Test return during the blockbuster series against India that follows, but that plan is now up in smoke, with Archer not expected to be fit in time for the Lions game.
“[Archer] will be assessed by the England medical team over the next fortnight to determine when he may return to action,” an England and Wales Cricket Board statement said.
Amid a torrid run of injuries, Archer has not played any first-class cricket at all since turning out for Sussex against Kent in May 2021 and played his last Test match away to India three months before that.
England have instead focused on getting one of their prize assets fit for white-ball cricket but after a good run of fitness through the winter they are keen to get him back in the Test side ahead of the Ashes tour to Australia later this year.
Had Archer not been involved in the IPL, he may well have been making his Test comeback against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge this week. However, England appear determined that he play some first-class cricket to prove his readiness for Test match workload before being recalled.
England must now hope Archer is fit in time to turn out for Sussex in one of the two County Championship matches scheduled for late-June. The First Test against India starts on June 20 but the five-match series runs through July and into August, meaning Archer could still feature at some stage.
Lancashire seamer Luke Wood has been added to the ODI squad to face the West Indies for what will be Harry Brook’s first series since inheriting the captaincy.
