Archer misses out at crucial point of series
Jofra archer will miss today’s pivotal third Test and could become the fourth england player ruled out of the series against South africa.
The paceman struggled in the nets here at St George’s Park yesterday with the right elbow problem that caused him to miss england’s dramatic serieslevelling victory in cape Town last week.
he bowled only a handful of deliveries at anything like his usual pace before sinking to his haunches and being seen in long and earnest discussion with england physio craig de Weymarn and team doctor anita Biswas.
Then, england coach chris Silverwood put a consoling arm around archer, apparently confirming he would miss out here, although england will not make an announcement until this morning.
If an injury archer suffered during last summer’s World cup is getting worse, there must be doubt over whether he will be fit to play in the final Test at Johannesburg on what is expected to be the fastest pitch of the series next week.
and that would mean he will almost certainly be on an early plane home to join rory Burns, Jimmy anderson and Jack Leach in being ruled out of this series through injury or illness.
It is a huge blow for archer, who burst on to the international scene so spectacularly last summer, but who has endured a difficult winter, with even his attitude being privately questioned by some within the england group.
‘Jofra is very much at the start of his career and managing his workload is part of that,’ said england captain Joe root before training yesterday.
‘We’ve seen a bit of pushback from his body to those workloads and we want to make sure he’s capable of bowling at 90mph before we pick him again.’
This winter is proving to be a lesson in the harsh reality of international cricket for the new star. england have spent all week challenging archer to prove his fitness and throwing down the gauntlet to him, somehow querying whether he really does have a recurring elbow problem.
The reality is that he does and is just not fit.
That means, on a pitch made for reverse swing, that Mark Wood will probably step up ahead of chris Woakes for his first Test since his player-of-the-match performance against West Indies in St Lucia early last year.
Wood will only miss out if a sore rib worsens overnight.
‘Mark got through a lot of cricket last summer injury-free, which is testament to how hard he’s worked on his rehab and making sure his body can cope,’ said root of a fast bowler who last played for england in the World cup final.
‘he has had a sustained spell getting ready for a chance in this series, whether it is here or next week in Johannesburg, and the only reason we have been cautious with him is we know that history he has with injuries.
‘I know Woody’s value to the team and sometimes you can’t worry about whether he’s going to get through a five-day Test.
‘If a bowler has proven himself fit, if they’ve jumped through every hoop to get back out there, you have to give them that opportunity.’
and what an opportunity this is for england, not just in the case of root, newly-crowned world player of the year Stokes and Stuart Broad, but also Dom Sibley, Joe Denly, ollie Pope and Dom Bess. They will all be unlikely heroes if england go on to repeat their series success against South africa of four years ago.
‘It’s very exciting, especially with a young group of players as well,’ said root, looking ahead to a pivotal Test at this atmospheric venue.
‘for those guys to experience the last game and for us to get across the line in that fashion is a really big move forward.
‘We speak a lot about the environment we’re trying to create and the culture of our three teams. I thought we lived that brilliantly across the five days in cape Town and now we’ve got to repeat it.
‘I’m very confident we can do that but it’s a challenge for us.’