Archer won’t play again in 2021

the troublesome elbow for more than 18 months and recently had surgery in an attempt to fix the issue.

He had bone fragments removed in the belief that they were what was causing his pain when he bowled.

However, on his return for Sussex in the

T20 Blast and then a 50-over warm-up game against Oxfordshire the pain was still there.

Scans revealed the extent of the damage, with a specialist prescribing a further period of rest before decisions on his future are made in the autumn.

“As part of his returnto-bowling programme, he became aware of increasing discomfort in his elbow during matches for Sussex,” read an ECB statement.

“Scans revealed that he has suffered a recurrence of a stress fracture of his right elbow and in response to these findings, he has been ruled out for the rest of the year.”