England have fast-tracked Jofra Archer into their squad to face India in the second Test at Edgbaston next week.
The 30-year-old right-arm quick bowler returns to the England Test set-up for the first time since February 2021 after successfully coming through his first red-ball match for 1,501 days in Sussex’s match at Durham earlier this week.
Archer is the only change to the England squad that was convened for the five-wicket defeat of the tourists in the opening Test at Headingley. His call-up comes despite the Sussex head coach, Paul Farbrace, suggesting it would make more sense to hold him in reserve for the third Test in the series.
“I would be definitely sticking with Chris Woakes for Edgbaston because he knows the pitch inside out,” the former England assistant coach said. “Why change the team? They’ve just won the Test at Headingley. They’ve set themselves up nicely for the series. If I was in their situation, my honest answer would be that I would save him for the third Test match. You have to be careful that he’s only bowled 18 overs of red-ball cricket.”
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England squad
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Ben Stokes (Durham, capt), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Sam Cook (Essex), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Jamie Overton (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire)
Archer finished with figures of 1 for 32 from Durham’s first innings having taken the wicket of opener Emilo Gay.
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The bowler has been plagued by injury since his breakthrough summer of 2019 when he starred in England’s ODI World Cup win and then took 22 wickets during four Tests of the subsequent Ashes series. Six years on, he has earned only 13 Test caps after battling a long-term elbow problem and a stress fracture in his back.
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