In the second over of the IPL 2023 game between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals, Jofra Archer extracted appreciable movement off the seam at over 90mph and beat Jos Buttler, his England teammate, on the inside edge. That delivery didn’t produce a wicket, but it brought back some fond memories of Archer bowling peaches in top-flight cricket. Unfortunately, over the past couple of years, Archer has been more in the news for a spate of injuries than his on-field performances.
It all started during England’s successful tour of South Africa in 2019-20. He missed out on playing the second and third Tests of that tour because of a right elbow injury. There was hope that Archer would play in the final Test at The Wanderers and the subsequent T20I series but it wasn’t to be. According to reports, he was close to tears while having a discussion about his injury with Chris Silverwood and Joe Root, then coach and captain.
At that time, very few could have envisaged that for the next three years, Archer would have to endure pain and agony because of the persistent elbow injury. He returned to light training after three months of rehabilitation and went on to play for England in Tests and limited-overs cricket. He also played for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020. He was even named the Most Valuable Player that season, but it was noticeable that he bowled for Rajasthan with an elbow brace.
The following year, he did represent England in the Test and T20I games against India in India before missing out on playing the ODIs and also IPL 2021 because of the elbow problem. It later emerged that he could bowl in T20Is only on the back of taking cortisone injections. He did try to make another comeback by playing County cricket that summer. In fact, he showed some of his old form when he removed Zak Crawley, the England opener, with bounce and seam movement. Sadly, on the third day of Sussex’s game against Kent, he once more experienced pain in his elbow.
On May 27, 2021, he ultimately underwent his first elbow surgery. Archer had then written in his Daily Mail column: “I just want to get this injury sorted once and for all and that’s why I’m not looking that far ahead or at dates for a return to action. Because if I don’t get this right, I won’t play any cricket. Period.”
His woes didn’t end there as he had to go under the knife again in December 2021 for his elbow issue. When the news of Archer’s surgery finally broke out in the media, England were already 2-0 down in the Ashes played in Australia. It is true that England’s disastrous campaign in Australia was also because of some questionable selections, where the think-tank seemed to prioritise rotating players over picking their best available XI. However, one couldn’t stop wondering whether Archer’s extra pace and lift would have made a difference on Australian wickets.
Eventually, in March 2022, during the course of England tour of the West Indies, Archer was seen bowling at almost full tilt in the nets at Bridgetown. Back home, he went through some drills at the nets, with a vision of playing some white-ball games. Just that injuries continued to haunt him, as he was laid low by a stress fracture of the back and had to undergo yet another surgery.
At the back-end of 2022, everything seemed to be falling in place as Archer played for the Lions against England XI in a practice game in Abu Dhabi. He also hit Crawley on the helmet with his trademark short delivery. Archer soon took his first few steps of returning to competitive cricket by playing a few limited-overs games in South Africa and Bangladesh, alongside participation in the inaugural SA20. There were promising signs of Archer finding his groove, evidenced by his blistering spell in the third ODI versus South Africa in Kimberley.
Archer’s next stop was playing for Mumbai in the IPL. There was excitement and heightened anticipation among Mumbai’s fans that Archer would shoulder the responsibility of leading the pace attack in the absence of the injured Jasprit Bumrah. Unfortunately, for the umpteenth time, his elbow problem flared up. After playing Mumbai’s first game of the tournament, there was also uncertainty surrounding Archer’s near-future. Amid speculation that Archer could miss the remainder of IPL, it emerged that he had flown to Belgium to consult van Riet, a world-renowned elbow surgeon, and a minor surgery was conducted. Since then, Archer has played two matches and missed one.
It isn’t surprising that all the injuries have raised doubts about whether Archer would get back to full fitness. Incidentally, a couple of years ago, England skipper Alastair Cook had shared his thoughts on Archer’s elbow problems to BBC Test Match Special: “Tim Bresnan was never the same bowler after his elbow injury – they’re so hard to get right,” he said. “He lost that yard of pace, and Jofra’s point of difference is that he can bowl genuinely quick. It’s a game-changer. The only thing now, though, is the advances in medical research and recovery of these injuries is better now. So if there is ever a chance, they can get it right.”
Just glancing through Archer’s injury record, another pertinent point to delve into would be his workload. At his peak, during the Ashes in 2019, Archer was measured at 96mph. But fast bowling is a thankless job as it can put a lot of stress on the body. For instance, when a pace bowler jumps and thuds his front foot onto the crease with a force of around 15 times the entire body weight, the knees, ankles and other parts of the body take a lot of stress.
Way back in 2019 itself, Michael Holding, the legendary West Indies fast bowler, had warned the England coaching staff about the pace bowler’s workload: “Archer bowled a third of all the overs bowled (Lord’s Test) – that’s a spinner’s quota,” he was quoted as saying by The Independent. Holding had added that the way Archer was used on the final day of that Lord’s Test was downright ‘abuse’. The same year, Archer had to go through the grind of bowling 42 overs on a flat pitch versus New Zealand at The Bay Oval.
Bowling all those overs perhaps took its toll on Archer. Or is it something to do with his action, resulting in his elbow getting bashed all the time? It is difficult to sit on a chair and give the exact reason. But you would rather pen 10,000 words on Archer bounding to the crease with a smooth run-up and dismantling Daniel Bell-Drummond’s off-stump with a vicious nip-backer rather than write about his injury woes. Fans across the cricketing landscape would likely have similar feelings.