Injured Archer out of Ashes, England drop Pope from Boxing Day test

A side strain ended England fast bowler Jofra Archer’s Ashes campaign on Wednesday while the beleaguered tourists dropped batter Ollie Pope for the fourth test against Australia.

Surrey seamer Gus Atkinson will replace Archer in an England side down 3-0 in the five-test series and will be playing for pride in Melbourne and Sydney.

“Warwickshire’s Jacob Bethell comes into the side and will bat at number three,” the touring side said in a statement ahead of the Boxing Day test.

Archer has been arguably England’s best player on this tour, taking nine wickets, including a five-wicket haul in Adelaide, and scoring valuable lower-order runs including a maiden fifty in the same match.

The injury casts doubts over Archer’s availability for the Twenty20 World Cup in February-March.

“The effort that he’s put in over these three games has been exceptional,” captain Ben Stokes said of the speedster on Tuesday.

“There were a lot of question marks around his ability or whatever it may be coming out to Australia, and he’s put in a great effort for the team.”

Pope, whose 46 in Perth remains his highest score in six Ashes innings on this tour, paid the price for his poor run of form, but opener Ben Duckett managed to retain his place for the fourth test despite faring worse.

Duckett has tallied 97 runs in six innings with a highest score of 29.

As if another botched Ashes campaign was not bad enough for them, England team director Rob Key said they would look into reports that players drank excessively during a break between the second and third Ashes tests this month.

An emotional Stokes on Wednesday said the mental well-being of his players was his main priority amid the media scrutiny of their performance and behaviour on the tour.

England XI for fourth test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith (wicketkeeper), Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue.