England rest Jofra Archer for New Zealand ODI ahead Ashes

Jofra Archer will miss England’s opening ODI against New Zealand at Mount Maunganui as part of a planned, non-injury workload management programme designed to prioritise his fitness for next month’s Ashes. He is due to arrive later in New Zealand alongside Mark Wood and Josh Tongue and is pencilled to feature in one of the later ODIs in Hamilton or Wellington subject to acclimatisation, after being rested from the T20 series. Archer returned to Test cricket this summer following more than four years out with stress fractures and elbow problems and produced a strong finish to the 2025 home season, prompting careful “micro-management” of his build-up. Mount Maunganui is noted as the ground where he first suffered elbow soreness and where he was racially abused in 2019, but there is no suggestion those incidents explain this particular omission. England have applied bespoke training schedules across their fast-bowling group (including Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Wood and Tongue) and will link the Test specialists with the England Lions in Perth ahead of the first Test as they prepare for the Ashes. Meanwhile England continue their white-ball campaign in New Zealand, seeking momentum in the T20s while finalising preparations for the Ashes opener in Perth on November 21.