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England have suffered a huge injury blow ahead of their forthcoming test series against New Zealand, with the news that fast bowler Jofra Archer will miss the entire season after suffering a stress fracture of the lower back.
The 27-year-old has not played since last July following two elbow operations and now this latest setback is damaging not just for the bowler himself but for English cricket in general.
Archer was on track to feature at some point this summer and was hoping to play in domestic cricket this month, only to feel soreness in his back last week.
There is also the strong possibility that the Sussex paceman will miss the T20 World Cup in Australia this autumn.
This is just another setback to the latest growing list of England pace bowlers ruled out of the summer’s first test against New Zealand starting at the beginning of June.
Archer joins six other players who are ruled out including four with back injuries. Sam Curran, Olly Stone, Matt Fisher and Saqib Mahmood will all miss some cricket at some point during the summer.
This latest blow will be a big concern for Archer, once considered England’s most exciting pace prospect, but now having to face more than a year on the sidelines.
Called up just before the World Cup in 2019, he will be remembered for bowling the crucial super over that helped England triumph over New Zealand at Lords.
He made his test debut on the same ground against Australia later that summer. The Sussex paceman has played 13 tests, 17 ODI’s and 12 T20’s for England, taking 86 wickets in total.
He last wore an England shirt back in March 2021, and now there must be a doubt that it will be a while until he wears the famous shirt again.
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