Jofra Archer is primed for one more showdown against Australia on Saturday with England optimistic they are going to have a clean bill of health for his or her Champions Trophy opener in Lahore.
A demoralising tour of India that saw England lose seven of eight white-ball matches including all three ODIs ended last week with injury concerns to several of their 15-strong Champions Trophy squad.
But while Archer missed the ultimate two ODIs as a consequence of a cut on his right hand, he is about to be unleashed against Australia after playing a full role in England’s training session on Wednesday afternoon.
Going up against Australia has often brought out the most effective of Archer and there are hopes he may be a consider England’s Ashes bid Down Under next winter, although he’s yet to resume playing first-class cricket on his latest comeback from longstanding elbow and back troubles.
Having been a standout within the 2019 Ashes, Archer shone in his last 50-over outing against Australia, along with his express pace and movement helping England to victory at Lord’s in September.
Injury Troubles
Brydon Carse, who also starred in that fixture on the back end of the English summer, is England’s biggest concern with a badly bruised toe, but he was near bowling at full tilt of their first practice since arriving into Pakistan from Abu Dhabi within the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Jamie Smith’s calf problem had sidelined him since midway through the T20 series but he batted and kept on Wednesday, opening up the opportunity of him difficult Phil Salt for the wicketkeeping position.
Salt’s fellow opener Ben Duckett batted last among the many most important group after initial and confirmation scans revealed he had suffered no major groin injury in England’s tour-ending defeat in Ahmedabad last Wednesday, while Jamie Overton is about to be available having nursed a sore hamstring in India.
- v Australia, Lahore – February 22
- v Afghanistan, Lahore – February 26
- v South Africa, Karachi – March 1
England became increasingly patched up as that trip progressed, never having a full complement to select from after the primary T20 while assistant coaches Paul Collingwood and Marcus Trescothick were named as substitute fielders at one stage.
They’ve already been forced into one change of their Champions Trophy squad, with Jacob Bethell’s left hamstring issue resulting in a recall for Tom Banton after a three-year international exile.
Mounting injury concerns and an exhaustive schedule that meant travelling once every three days meant England didn’t train before the second and third ODIs, which was called into query by former internationals Ravi Shastri and Kevin Pietersen.
England are understood to be peeved by initial claims they’d only been within the nets once on the tour, which proved misleading, having practised on multiple occasions through the T20 series.
Defending Their Preparation
Nevertheless, the accusations and the accompanying fuss were strong enough for each captain Jos Buttler and head coach Brendon McCullum to launch a strong defence of their preparation methods.
Every member of England’s Champions Trophy squad trained on Wednesday as they seek to show around their ODI fortunes that has seen them lose 16 of their last 23 matches because the start of the 2023 World Cup.
Since thumping Australia within the 2019 World Cup semi-final, England have won three and lost nine of their last dozen ODIs against their oldest rivals.
Nevertheless, the world champions have seen their preparations hard hit with captain Pat Cummins and fellow first-choice pacemen Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, plus all-rounder Mitch Marsh, all unavailable.
While stand-in skipper Steve Smith, plus Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell bolster the batting, Australia were bowled out for lower than 170 twice by Sri Lanka and go into the Champions Trophy having lost 4 of their last five ODIs.
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