England bowler Jofra Archer to undergo surgery on hand injury

Paceman set to go under knife after suffering a cut while cleaning at his home in January and also receives further injection on troublesome elbow

Cricket - Third Twenty20 International - India v England - Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India - March 16, 2021 England's Jofra Archer catches out India's Rohit Sharma REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui
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Jofra Archer is set to have hand surgery on Monday and has received a further injection to manage his ongoing elbow injury.

Archer left England's tour of India after the Twenty20 series as a result of ongoing pain in his right elbow, which ruled him out of two Test matches earlier in the trip.

A medical consultation determined an operation would not be necessary at this stage, but the pace bowler will go under the knife to correct an issue that dates back to January and had not previously been made public.

The England and Wales Cricket Board said on Saturday that Archer suffered a cut to his hand while cleaning at his home in January shortly before flying to India. The injury was managed by its medical team and did not impact on his availability.

"Jofra Archer will undergo a procedure to his right hand following a scan and subsequent consultant review since he returned to the UK on Tuesday," said a spokesman for the ECB.

"He has also had a further injection for the right elbow injury that had seen him declared unfit for selection for the current ODI  series versus India."

Last week, iot also emerged that Archer would no longer join up with Rajasthan Royals for the beginning of the IPL campaign.

England all-rounder Ben Stokes admitted on Thursday that it was possible his Royals teammate would not play any part in this year's tournament.

"We're not sure how much of it he'll be able to play a part, if any," Stokes said. "One thing that we need to be very mindful of is that Jofra does need to give this elbow a chance to recover.

"It's great that he's came out and said he's putting his England commitments before everything else. It's tough having an injury then getting through a game and then going backwards again.

"I think long term for his career, this is a very sensible option for him to be taking."