LONDON: England named an unchanged team for the second Test against India starting at Edgbaston on Wedn­esday, as Jofra Archer was made to wait for his return.

Ben Stokes’ men won the opening match of a five-Test series by five wickets last week after chasing down 371 on the final day at Headingley.

Archer has not played Test cricket since February 2021 but had been called into the squad after bowling his first red-ball overs for four years in Sussex’s County Championship draw against Durham last week.

However, the 30-year-old was forced to miss Monday’s training session due to a family emergency.

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said Archer would rejoin the team in Birmingham on Tuesday.

Archer burst onto the scene in 2019, hailed as a key weapon for England in their search for genuine pace to unsettle opponents. He bowled the decisive super over in England’s 50-over World Cup win over New Zealand at Lord’s in 2019 and took 22 wickets in four Tests that followed against Australia in the drawn Ashes.

But Archer was dogged by an elbow injury first sustained in 2020 that required multiple operations and has also had to overcome a recurring stress fracture in his back, first sustained in 2022.

England are looking to take a 2-0 lead on a ground where India have never won a Test in eight visits.

Squad: Ben Stokes (captain), Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wicket-keeper), Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2025