England quick Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the home summer with an elbow injury, with the ECB confirming the 28-year-old will not feature in this year’s Ashes series.
On Tuesday, the ECB announced England’s 15-player squad for next month’s Lord’s Test against Ireland, also revealing that Archer had sustained a recurrence of a stress fracture to his right elbow.
“It has been a frustrating and upsetting period for Jofra Archer. He was making good progress until a recurrence of the elbow injury, which kept him out for an extended period previously. We wish him the best of luck with his recovery,” ECB managing director for men’s cricket Rob Key said in a statement.
“I’m sure we will see Jofra back to his best and winning games for England, whatever the format. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.”
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Earlier this week, Archer was ruled out of the ongoing Indian Premier League as he continued recovering from elbow surgery. The right-armer, who has not played Test cricket since February 2021, only returned to international cricket in January after being sidelined for over a year with elbow and back injuries.
Meanwhile, England made the bombshell decision to drop wicketkeeper Ben Foakes ahead of the Ashes, with Jonny Bairstow set to be the Test side’s first-choice gloveman this summer.
Foakes, widely considered the nation’s best wicketkeeper, has featured in nine of England’s 12 Tests since head coach Brendon McCullum took charge last year, missing two matches due to illness.
During that period, the Surrey gloveman has effected 36 dismissals and averaged 38.90 with the bat, scoring a classy century against South Africa at Old Trafford.
However, national selectors have entrusted Bairstow with the wicketkeeping duties for the four-day Test against Ireland, which gets underway in London on June 1.
Bairstow, who has not donned the gloves for England since 2021, was a standout performer in the Test arena last summer, plundering 681 runs at 75.66 as a specialist batter with a mind-boggling strike rate of 96.59 in six matches.
However, the Yorkshire gloveman suffered a severe leg injury in September last year, subsequently missing the T20 World Cup along with Test tours of Pakistan and New Zealand.
Bairstow was replaced in the starting XI by young gun Harry Brook, who dominated in Pakistan and New Zealand with 809 runs at 80.90 in six Tests with a strike rate of 98.77, including four centuries.
Brook, initially considered a temporary replacement, was suddenly impossible to drop, and Foakes becomes the unlucky player forced to make way ahead of Bairstow’s return.
Foakes has a Test strike rate of 49.41, which goes against the ‘Bazball’ mentality that has been so successful for England over the past 12 months.
“I’m not, as you’d say, Bazball,” the 30-year-old conceded earlier this year.
“Some of these guys have got more ability to hit it all over the place. I think if I try and do that it’s just quite far away from my strengths, so I don’t think it’s the smartest idea. I think playing with freedom, but doing it in a way you feel comfortable.
“You do have a look up at the scoreboard at your strike rate — you want to keep it above 50. But I think it is a strength of mine to play slightly more normal cricket.”
Bairstow has played two County Championship matches for Yorkshire since his long-awaited return from injury last month, scoring 83 runs at 27.67 and taking a couple of glorious catches behind the stumps.
Meanwhile, Foakes has accumulated 264 runs at 52.80 for Surrey, including an unbeaten century against Lancashire in April’s County Championship opener at Old Trafford.
“It was a seriously tough decision to leave Ben Foakes out of the squad,” Key said.
“He has been excellent for England in the last year, but Jonny Bairstow is one of the best players in the world whose performances last summer epitomised what we are about.”
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England opener Zak Crawley has retained his spot in the Test starting XI despite failing to reach fifty in his most recent eight Test knocks. The 25-year-old has averaged 18.33 in home Tests since the start of 2021, reaching fifty once in 19 knocks, but he has shown glimpses of his potential throughout his professional career.
Test quicks Mark Wood and Chris Woakes have earnt recalls, while Essex’s Dan Lawrence and Durham’s Matthew Potts also return to the squad.
Ollie Pope has been named vice-captain while veteran seamer James Anderson has also been included in the Test squad despite his recent groin injury in the County Championship.
The Lord’s Test between England and Ireland gets underway on June 1, with the first ball scheduled for 8pm AEST.
England Test squad for Ireland Test
Ben Stokes (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Harry Brook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Ollie Robinson, Joe Root, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood
