Ben Stokes chats to Jofra Archer during England’s nets session © Getty Images
Jofra Archer‘s hotly anticipated Test debut will be deferred at least until the second Test at Lord’s, after he was omitted from the first Test against Australia at Edgbaston on Thursday to continue his rehabilitation from a side strain.
Though Archer was named in the 14-man squad for Edgbaston, he was always a long shot for selection, after admitting he had played through “excruciating” pain in helping England to win the World Cup with a haul of 20 wickets at 23.05, before sending down the decisive Super Over in the final against New Zealand at Lord’s.
Archer made his playing comeback in a T20 for Sussex last week, having had a brief break in his native Barbados to recover from the rigours of the World Cup.
In his absence, England’s attack will be spearheaded by the old guard of Stuart Broad and James Anderson, whose record-breaking partnership was broken up briefly for last week’s Ireland Test. Though Broad starred with four second-innings wickets as Ireland were bowled out for 38, Anderson missed the match to continue his recovery from a calf injury.
England’s captain, Joe Root, confirmed England’s XI for the Edgbaston Test on the eve of the match, but insisted that Archer would have a part to play in the series.
“I wouldn’t have named it if I wasn’t confident. We are very excited as a group,” Root said. “We have a good record here as a team. It’s very important that we are very focused and very clear on how we want to approach this series and that first day in particular. We feel confident this group of players is more than capable of winning this Test match.
“Jofra is coming back from quite a serious injury. We looked at conditions and made a decision on what we thought would best take 20 wickets here. It also gives him time to get absolutely ready and fit to make sure he has his workloads up and ready to go for later in the series if he needs to make an impact. [His fitness] will be monitored throughout the week. It’s important that he’s ready to go to offer something different.”
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo