ODI World Cup: Jofra Archer not part of England’s provisional squad, unlikely to feature in mega tournament

Ace pacer Jofra Archer has failed to make it to the England squad for the upcoming New Zealand series and is also not part of the provisional squad for the upcoming ODI World Cup. Notably, he suffered an unfortunate elbow injury during the 16th edition of the IPL and post that, he returned home early in order to focus on the Ashes. However, Archer couldn’t recover on time and missed the series and as things stand, the 28-year-old is also on the verge of missing the World Cup, which is slated to begin on October 5 in India.

However, England chief selector Luke Wright has confirmed that the player is showing a lot of progress and may feature in the second half of the tournament. He will be travelling with the squad as a reserve and his progress will be monitored closely in order to confirm his return. Wright also added saying that the team management is desperate to have him in the squad right from the start but he understands that time is running out for that.

“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.

“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,” Wright was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

Meanwhile, in his absence, England have called up Gus Atkinson, who is in terrific form at the moment. The 25-year-old doesn’t have enough experience in List A cricket but the team management is expected to back him, given his form.