England’s mirror points out the person responsible for Jofra Archer injury

Like the clouds, before the rain starts pouring down, everything was gloomy and dark after England crashed out of the 2015 World Cup, finishing fifth in Group A. Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Jos Buttler were part of the English system then, with a more experienced bowling unit in the form of Stuart Broad and James Anderson. They were convincingly thrashed by four sides in the tournament, and worse, embarrassed by Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Meanwhile, a 19-year-old was just making the decision to move to England from the West Indies, where he could have been a starter. A young Archer made his move to Sussex, for whom he would on to make his debut appearance in 2016. 

Away from England in North Sound, an Eoin Morgan-led English side made their appearance in the land of Archer, West Indies. The narrative was perfectly set, with West Indies aiming to avenge the lost Archer with the series victory over England. However, as it turned out, it was the starting of many dominations for Morgan and co in World Cricket. While away from the English limelight, the right-arm pacer was building his reputation in Khulna Titans in 2017 before his Big Bash stint that pushed England selection. By then, he had already made his debut in Sussex colours, playing List-A games and in the T20 Blast. However, he was not yet the Archer that we know him to be today; bowling yorkers at a sound pace, an accuracy that we have not seen since Michael Jordan left basketball. 

It was another summer in Australia, with a young Englishman eager to make his presence felt miles away from the harsh conditions of South East London. In the purple colours of Hobart Hurricanes, the lanky pacer made his debut in the Big Bash League. It was the first mark that world cricket had of the pacer bowling extensively. In conditions that were batsmen friendly, he attacked, riled and bruised the batsmen, so much that the Canes' batting unit merely made their presence in the nets when he bowled. And in 2018, Pakistan came calling for the youngster for their T20 competition. 

By now, he had already played in four countries, bowled thousands of overs and travelled around the world. And if that was not enough, he made his debut appearance in the Indian Premier League and ended up being a revelation. Two years of IPL, loads of experience across the globe was enough for England to call him up to the senior squad, for the series against Pakistan and Ireland. 

In April 2019, he was named in the squad, and in May 2019, he made his debut. The much-awaited debut of the over-hyped youngster Jofra Archer was a reality. The newspapers all over Britain had him as the face before his debut, and since his debut, it has not changed a bit. Everything was real - the hype, the frosty weather in Ireland and of course, the winter. 90mph yorkers previously have been a myth for the longest period of time, until Archer decided to announce himself in sublime style. From there, the English board and the selectors decided to use the bowler like we use coal in the current era, burning it to the end. England won the World Cup, and Jofra Archer was on his last leg of fitness; that leg, too, had a painkilling injection. It was the second time in his career the youngster was burnt out, physically and emotionally at the same go. 

Be it good, bad or ugly, Archer has been at the helm of it all, or rather Archer has been at the wheel for England’s bowling attack. Since making his debut in the ODI format, the 24-year-old has bowled 737 balls, which constitutes to 122 overs of gruesome work in world cricket, the most any bowler has bowled in the format and all of this came at a cost- his fitness. He was then ruled out of the one-off Test against Ireland after which he was out of the reckoning for the opening Ashes Test. At Lord’s, the very iconic stadium that has been a blessing in disguise for the English crowd, the mecca of Cricket as some call it, Archer made his Test debut. 

Two crisp boundaries with the bat were not something that he would have dreamt of on his debut, as he scored 12 runs with the bat. The show that was awaited, however, was Archer and his 90mph thunderbolts against Australia’s wooden bat. It was always going to be overcast in London when Australia put the hosts to bat. However, in the second innings, overcast turned into dark clouds, and Australia, into club cricketers. Largely, the Test was remembered for Archer’s bouncer, the one that rattled Australia and their chances of retaining the Ashes. Ever since the Ashes debut, he has bowled more overs more than Mitchell Marsh, Travis Head and Tim Paine faced in the middle combined in the same time frame. 274 overs later, the thunderbolt struck again, this time on England, as Jofra Archer was ruled out with a bone stress injury. The bone stress injury then ruled him out cricket from the next four months, with England finally realising that they need to nurse him as much as they utilise him. During the time he has been involved with the English team, he has picked up 55 wickets, two less than Chris Woakes, and plenty more than James Anderson and Stuart Broad. 

In the four Tests that he played against Australia in the glorious English summer, he bowled 156 overs, averaging 40 every innings. 40 overs every innings after just being involved in one of the cruelest World Cups ever for a pacer, Archer had crossed every barrier that could be for a pacer. And against South Africa, he was out after just one Test. Oh, there is more to the story than what meets the eye, for he played in New Zealand, the Test series which was of no value to the Test championship. In the series, the pacer bowled 82 overs in just two games; Hell, he could have opted to go for a new ball of his own for the number of overs he bowled in that series.

All of this came at a cost, though. The big man went crashing down and so did England’s mojo despite winning the series 3-1 against South Africa. Have we seen a bowler getting injured in the first Test of a series before? Ah, yes, James Anderson. Anderson was picked up in the Ashes despite not being fully fit and nearly was risked into playing the fourth Test against Australia. To make it worse, he pulled out of the second Test after just bowling one over with the second new ball in England’s successful tour. Despite all of this success, they lost one Test and several players, two of them by the management. Single-handedly, the management ruined the career that they fast-tracked, the same career they waited patiently, the Archer they wanted fit for the T20 World Cup at the cost of one series victory!