ENGLAND fast bowler Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes series with a side strain, the team said on Wednesday. Batsman Ollie Pope was also left out of the squad for the fourth Test against Australia.
Archer has been England’s leading bowler in the first three Tests, bowling 80 overs and taking nine wickets.
He will be replaced by Gus Atkinson, who will lead the pace attack alongside Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse and captain Ben Stokes. Will Jacks has been retained as the spin option.
England are 3-0 down in the series and will look to respond in the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground starting Friday.
The team is also without fast bowler Mark Wood, who bowled 11 overs on the tour before being ruled out with a knee injury.
Pope was dropped after a run of low scores at number three, with Jacob Bethell coming into the side in the only other change.
Opener Ben Duckett kept his place after reports of an unverified video showing him drunk between the second and third Tests.
Captain Ben Stokes said protecting England players’ welfare was his top concern on Wednesday amid claims of excessive drinking on a mid-Ashes beach break, without directly addressing the allegations.
Stokes was peppered with questions ahead of the fourth Test in Melbourne about the team’s behaviour at Noosa between the second and third Tests after British media reports compared it to a “stag-do”.
England have gone 18 Tests since winning a match in Australia, dating back to their last series victory there in 2010-11.
Their capitulation in this series in 11 days of play is the joint second quickest in more than a century, since the 1921 Ashes was completed in eight days.
England team: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (capt), Jamie Smith, Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue.
