Following a disastrous defeat at the hands of South Africa in the first Test, trouble seems to be doubling up for England as a recent report suggests star pacer Jofra Archer can be out of the playing eleven for the next match, while spinner Dominic Bess is likely to replace him.
The track of Cape Town is expected to be spinner-friendly and thus the England team management are likely to replace the pacer with Bess. Joe Root will also have the option of Jack Leach but Bess looks a more probable candidate to play.
The 22-year-old cricketer from Somerset, Bess made his Test debut in 2018 against Pakistan at the Lord’s. He returned wicketless from the match but he had contributed 57 runs with the bat in the second innings, sharing a century partnership with Jos Buttler.
In the second match of the series, which was also his last Test, Bess had taken 3 wickets and scored 49 as a nightwatchman, helping England to win the game by an innings and 55 runs.
According to a report on ESPNcricinfo, Archer bowled only six balls during England’s net session on January 1 in Cape Town. He was reported to have suffered a sore elbow and the concerns surrounding his injury are whether he will be able to recover in time for the second Test, to be played from January 3.
However, if Archer recovers in time, either of the two senior pros in bowling unit James Anderson and Stuart Broad will have to take the way out for the Barbados-born pacer.
In the first Test of the four-match series, England’s resistance to save the match fell short by 107 runs in the second innings as they lost the opener of the series, a part of ICC World Test Championship.
The visitors needed a mammoth 376 to win in the fourth innings and despite some committed batting performance, they were bundled for 268 in the fourth day of the five-day encounter.