England pace spearhead Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the entire season due to a stress fracture on his lower back, the country's cricket board said on Thursday, which means he will miss the Test against India in July.

"After being diagnosed with a stress fracture to the lower back, England and Sussex seamer Jofra Archer has been ruled out for the rest of the season," the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a statement.

The worst part is that he is indefinitely out of competitive cricket as the ECB has not set any specific time frame for his return. "No time frame has been set for his return. A management plan will be determined following further specialist opinion over the coming days." India are scheduled to play a Test match (carry over from the previous series) along with six white-ball games in the month of July.

The 27-year-old Jofra, who last played international cricket in March 2021 in an away series against India, had undergone elbow surgery and then made a comeback to county cricket for Sussex before suffering a stress fracture. The last competitive match that he played was a T20 game against Kent at Hove.

The Barbados-born Jofra has so far played 42 international matches for England across three formats and has 86 wickets to his credit.

First Published:May 19, 2022 4:25 PM IST