The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) unveiled the provisional 15-player squad for the upcoming Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 on August 16, 2023. Notably absent from this lineup is Jofra Archer, who played a pivotal role in England‘s victorious 2019 World Cup campaign at home. Archer’s outstanding performance included 20 wickets from 11 matches and his memorable delivery of the thrilling Super Over in the final against New Zealand. However, injuries have plagued the fast bowler, limiting his participation to just seven ODIs since the start of 2020.
Archer suffered an unfortunate elbow injury during the 16th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), prompting his early return to focus on the Ashes 2023 series. Nonetheless, his recovery was not in time, causing him to miss that series as well. With the impending Men’s ODI World Cup, set to commence on October 5 in India, Archer’s involvement remains uncertain.
Archer needs miraculous recovery for ODI World Cup 2023 participation
Luke Wright, England’s chief selector and Archer’s former Sussex teammate, has noted the positive progress in Archer’s rehabilitation. There’s optimism that he could potentially feature in the latter half of the tournament. While the Bridgetown-born cricketer will travel with the squad as a reserve player, his recovery will be closely monitored to determine his readiness. Although the team management would ideally want Archer in the squad from the beginning, the timeline constraints are acknowledged.
“There has got to be a duty of care with Jof. We know how desperate we all are to have him – there’s no doubt about that – but we’ve also got to get it right for him. He’s been very unfortunate with these injuries.. regarding the World Cup, unfortunately, we’re just running out of time,” Wright was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
“He’s not going to come round quite quick enough, especially for the first part of the World Cup. There is a duty of care with him. We have to make sure that long-term, we get it right because we see him as a huge asset for a long time. As much as the temptation is to try and rush him in and get him in for the start of this World Cup, unfortunately, we’re just going to run out of time,” the 38-year-old added.
Wright further emphasized that unless Archer makes a miraculous recovery from his injuries, it’s unlikely he will be included in the final and revised World Cup squad, a decision that needs to be confirmed by September 28, 2023, according to International Cricket Council (ICC).
“When you look at that squad, you cannot have a bowler that might not be available for the second half and definitely not for the first half. If something miraculous happens with him, we have time to change things but I just don’t see it happening. It is just coming too soon and we can’t rush this decision on Jof (Jofra Archer) this time,” Wright concluded.
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