In what has come as a significant blow for the England cricket team, seamer Jofra Archer has been ruled out of the entire season due to a stress fracture of his back. He hasn't played professional cricket since last July when he got injured and missed the T20 World Cup and later the Ashes tour of Australia.
The 27-year-old had a second elbow operation in December to address a stress fracture. His latest injury casts doubt on his career, especially because he was aiming to return for the T20 Blast next week after recovering from the elbow injury.
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Former England skipper Kevin Pietersen, while speaking to Betway Insider, said that it will be difficult for Archer to make a comeback to the longer format of the game after this ‘horrible’ blow to him.
"It's terrible news for poor Jofra Archer that he'll miss the whole summer. He's shown moments of brilliance for England and other teams and it's just a horrible blow for him. It's difficult to imagine him recovering from this to play long-form cricket again, that's the horrible reality. Hopefully, he can still carve out a top-level white-ball career," he said.
The cricketer-turned commentator said that having a number of sports scientists can overcomplicate things.
"His stress fracture to the back follows a pattern of these injuries being sustained by England bowlers. I do think that the number of sports scientists can complicate things far too much. When I was playing, fast bowlers used to bowl a lot of overs in the nets and got bowling fit." he added.
The Barbados-born English cricketer has played 13 Tests, 17 ODIs, and 12 T20Is so far, taking 42, 30, and 14 wickets respectively. On the IPL front, he was picked by Mumbai Indians (MI) for his searing pace, which despite his injury issues remains a powerful asset.
Pietersen further stated that the greatest of bowlers weren’t instructed ‘how many balls they could bowl by a sports scientist every day.’
"They (several past fast-bowling greats) went through the hard yards in their preparation and weren't molly-coddled in between games. Curtly Ambrose, Courtney Walsh, Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Glenn McGrath, and all the other greats weren't told how many balls they could bowl by a sports scientist every day.”
"They knew their bodies and got properly fit. It feels now like England's fast bowlers can't cope with tough, long days with the ball because they're not used to it," added the 41-year-old.
(HT INPUTS)
