JOFRA’S OUT OF THE ASHES
ENGLAND’S Jofra Archer has been ruled out of this winter’s Ashes tour and the Twenty20 World Cup after suffering a fresh stress fracture in his right elbow.
The news is a crushing blow not just to the paceman, who has endured a painful year trying and failing to conquer his fitness problems, but also to the wider England team.
Archer, who played a vital role in the 2019 World Cup win and burst on to the Test scene in stunning fashion just a few weeks later, had surgery in May to remove a bone fragment.
The 26-year-old was first diagnosed with a stress fracture in his bowling arm after breaking down on the South Africa tour of 2019-20, but worked his way back before the problem resurfaced.
JAMES ANDERSON wheeled away in delight after dismissing old rival Virat Kohli for a golden duck at Trent Bridge yesterday as England bounced back on a rain-hit second day of the first Test.
Having dismissed England for 183 on day one, India’s opening stand of 97 threatened to take the game away until the hosts took four wickets for 15 runs.
After Ollie Robinson struck with the last ball before lunch, Anderson removed Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli in successive balls and Jonny Bairstow produced a brilliant run-out.
At 125 for four, things were suddenly beautifully poised only for the weather to put a dampener on proceedings, bad light and rain wiping out all but three balls from two attempts to resume play during the second half of the day.
The highlight of the 33.4 overs played had Anderson beaming from ear to ear after snaring Kohli’s outside edge, his 619th Test wicket – taking him joint third on the all-time list with India great Anil Kumble.
It was the first time since 2014 the 39-year-old had dismissed Kohli with a red ball – a run of 12 Tests – a timely reminder of his enduring class on the day 90mph paceman Jofra Archer was ruled out for the rest of the year with a new stress fracture in his right elbow.
England started the day with Anderson and Robinson in tandem, the latter getting the nod ahead of Stuart Broad, but India openers Rohit Sharma (36) and KL Rahul (57 not out) stood firm.
Although the first hour had brought just 26 runs, the Test was looking decidedly one-sided until Robinson chanced a bouncer, hustling Rohit into an ungainly hook that sailed into Sam Curran’s hands at fine leg. Robinson was close to adding Pujara after the restart but the batsman overturned the lbw decision on height.
Anderson was bowling beautifully at the other end and the No.3 was soon gone for four to a delivery which straightened up a little, clipped the edge and settled in Jos Buttler’s gloves.
After his very first crack at Kohli saw the India skipper push at a lovely ball with hard hands and Buttler take the catch, a thrilled Anderson leapt in the air, racing towards point and clearly basking in the moment.
England grabbed another scalp when
Ajinkya Rahane set off for a non-existent single at the non-striker’s end. Bairstow swooped in and threw down the stumps as Rahane turned.
Dom Sibley may then have failed to take a slip catch after Anderson drew a chance out of Rahul but the veteran bowler had seen enough before the rain came to feel England had pegged back the tourists’ advantage.
‘We’re in the game,’ Anderson said. ‘We saw in our innings and in theirs that there are times you can build partnerships. We also saw wickets can fall in clusters.’