England make Jofra Archer decision as Reece Topley World Cup replacement named
Brydon Carse has been called up to England's Cricket World Cup squad as an injury replacement for Reece Topley, with travelling reserve Jofra Archer not yet ready to play.
Topley suffered a fracture to his left index finger while fielding during England's record-breaking 229-run defeat to South Africa at the weekend, ruling him out of the remainder of the tournament. It is a cruel blow for Topley, who is England's leading wicket taker at the World Cup with eight, having missed last year's T20 World Cup win after suffering an ankle injury in the final warm-up match.
Head coach Matthew Mott said England wanted to bring in an "X-factor player" to replace Topley and Carse has been given the nod. The 28-year-old has picked up 14 wickets in 12 ODI appearances for England and most recently featured in England's pre-World Cup series' against New Zealand and Ireland.
The ICC have confirmed the news, with Carse's inclusion approved by the tournament's Event Technical Committee. He could feature in England's next World Cup game against Sri Lanka on Thursday.
Archer would certainly have fit the bill as the kind of "X-factor player" England would have wanted to call on to try and kickstart their World Cup campaign, having now lost three out of four games. However, Archer has had a torrid time with injuries in recent years and Mott admitted he would not be ready to play until the backend of the tournament.
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"Jof is not going to be considered for selection," he told Sky Sports following the loss to South Africa. "He is not going to be able to play a part in the end of this campaign."
The defeat was England's heaviest in ODI cricket and came off the back of a shock defeat to Afghanistan, leaving their hopes of reaching the semi-finals and defending the World Cup they memorably won on home soil in 2019 all but over.
Brydon Carse has replaced Topley in England's World Cup squad (Alex Davidson/Getty Images)"It is a tough defeat to take," captain Jos Buttler admitted. "We had hoped to come and put things right but it didn’t work out that way, it is incredibly disappointing. Physically it was a really demanding innings and it makes you question whether, in those kind of conditions, batting first may have been the right call at the toss.
"We need complete honesty. It is obvious that we are not performing at our best and it is my job as captain to work out how we can get back to playing our brand of cricket. Not only that but just play to our potential and get back to our best.
"It comes down to a lot of effort and things that we need to keep challenging ourselves on. There won’t be anyone giving up or having those kinds of thoughts. We have to dust ourselves down, stick our chests out and go again."
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