Fast-bowler Jofra Archer will travel with the England squad to the upcoming Men’s ODI World Cup in India as a travelling reserve, confirmed men’s lead selector Luke Wright.
Archer’s name was absent from England’s final 15-player World Cup squad announced on Sunday due to the reoccurrence of a stress fracture in his right elbow which flared up while playing for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2023, ruling him out of the entire home summer this year.
“The best thing for Jofra is to travel with the team and keep working with his rehab and being around the physios and the team. We are doing all we can to get him ready to be as good as he can be.”
“If there was an injury he might be able to replace at the back end of the tournament but obviously we are still working on his fitness day-by-day and we’ll have to keep accessing that,” said Wright, a former team-mate of Archer at Sussex, in a statement issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Archer was part of the team that won the ODI World Cup in 2019 against New Zealand at Lord’s, where he bowled a thrilling Super Over, apart from being the side’s leading wicket-taker in the competition. He is currently working on his rehabilitation after injury in what has been a stop-start career since then.
Though he did make an international comeback for England on tours of South Africa and Bangladesh earlier this year apart from playing SA20, following recovery from successive elbow and back injuries, Archer has been laid low since then, having ended his IPL 2023 stint early to fly back home.
England will open its World Cup campaign against New Zealand in what will be the re-match of the 2019 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 5. The ten-team tournament will conclude with the final to be also held in Ahmedabad on November 19.
