ARCHER OUT FOR MONTHS
THE DAYS
ENGLAND have dismissed the possibility of Jofra Archer playing in the Indian Premier League after ruling him out for three months with a stress fracture in his elbow.
Archer, 24, will miss next month’s two-Test tour to Sri Lanka after scans revealed the injury.
And while the Rajasthan Royals, who signed him for the IPL season on an £800,000 deal, said they were “still hopeful” of seeing him in their colours, the ECB shot down that option immediately.
Team management say they are confident the fast bowler will be fit for the first Test of the English summer, against West Indies in early June, given four weeks’ rest followed by a managed return.
And with the fast bowler holding a first rank central contract, thought to be worth nearly £1million a year, he will not risk aggravating either his principal employers or the injury by returning sooner.
Archer, who played a starring role in the summer World Cup and Ashes after making his England debut in May, has been struggling with the injury since June. But the pain became unmanageable after the first Test against South Africa at Centurion.
Archer had returned to bowling in the nets and was on target to return for the fourth Test at Wanderers, only to pull out on the morning of the first day.
His place in the Sri Lanka touring side is likely to go to Chris Woakes, with Archer having already been ruled out of the ongoing one-day series and the three-match T20 series which follows.
Seamer Tom Curran admitted losing Archer was a “big blow” for England and Rajastan but backed him to return fitter and stronger. Curran said: “He’s a world-class player so obviously it is very disappointing for him but no doubt he will be back fitter, stronger and better.”
England and Curran will pick up today aiming to level the one-day series.
With storms forecast, the visitors are not hopeful of uninterrupted cricket and are not expected to make changes from the XI beaten by seven wickets in Cape Town.
Curran believes England need to get more runs on the board at Kingsmead than they managed in Cape Town if
Jofra Archer bowled in the nets in South Africa but pulled up out of the fourth Test they are to level the series and avoid a first bilateral series loss since 2017. He said: “We don’t want to lose a series at any time so we have to win here in Durban and we will be looking to do that. But the bottom line in Cape Town was that we just didn’t get enough runs.
“To try and defend that total [of 258] was always like pushing into the wind.
“Yes they batted well but I guess you can do that chasing a low score.”
SOUTH AFRICA (probable): De Kock (capt, wkt), R Hendricks, Bavuma, Van der Dussen, Miller, Smuts, Phehlukwayo, B Hendricks, Ngidi, Sipamla, Shamsi.
ENGLAND (probable): Roy, Bairstow (wkt), Root, Morgan (capt), Denly, Banton, S Curran, Woakes, T Curran, Jordan, Parkinson.
UMPIRES: A Dar & A Paleker. TV umpire: G Brathwaite.
START: 11am, Sky Sports.
ON THIS DATE IN SPORTING HISTORY
1976: Jennifer Bazeley became the first woman to referee a football match between two men’s teams when she took charge of the game between Saints Athletic and Croydon Old Boys.
1992: Ill health forced former Liverpool manager Bob Paisley to leave the club’s board of directors. He had been associated with the Reds since joining as a player in 1939 and went on to become one of the most successful managers in the English game. 2005: Dame Ellen MacArthur set the world record as the fastest person to sail single-handed around the world, completing the feat in 71 days, 14 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds. 2008: Premier League clubs agreed to examine a proposal to create a new round of 10 competitive fixtures to be played across the world over one weekend in January. The plan was later mothballed.