Fast bowler Jofra Archer has been ruled out of England’s upcoming Test tour of Sri Lanka as well as the Indian Premier League 2020 season, the country’s cricket board announced on Thursday.
“Archer underwent further scans on his injured right elbow yesterday in the UK which confirmed a low grade stress fracture,” a statement released say by ECB said.
Archer will now commence an injury rehabilitation programme with the ECB medical team with a view to be ready for the international summer campaign starting in June against the West Indies with a three-match Test series.
Archer headed back to Britain from South Africa earlier in a bid to regain full fitness after a sore right elbow saw him miss the final three Tests of England’s 3-1 series win over the Proteas.
The injury had immediately raised doubts over the 24-year-old World Cup winner’s availability for England’s Test tour of Sri Lanka in March. It has now proved to be the worst case scenario for England as well as Archer’s franchise Rajasthan Royals, who had retained the pacer for the 13th season.
In 21 IPL games, Archer has picked up 26 wickets at an average of 23.69. In his first IPL season in 2018, he took 15 wickets in 10 games at 21.66 before taking 11 in as many games at 26.45 the following season.
Archer played just one Test in South Africa, with his five-wicket haul at Centurion unable to prevent a Proteas win by 107 runs in the series opener before England bounced back.
The 24-year-old Barbados-born pacer has represented England in seven Tests and 14 ODIs, taking 30 and 23 wickets respectively. He was the hero of the Super Over win against New Zealand in the World Cup 2019 final. He has also played a solitary T20 International.