Pietersen thinks it would be difficult for Archer to play long-form cricket again
Jofra Chioke Archer, a 27-year-old right-arm pacer, has been dealing with injuries for quite a while now. In 2019 Archer was selected for the England team and before this, he made his debut in the Sussex team in 2016. Recently this fast bowler suffered a stress fracture in his back which resulted in him being ruled out of the team for an entire season.
“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,” former English cricketer Pietersen said.
For his absolute pace and form, Archer was bought by the Mumbai Indians franchise in the 2022 IPL Auction but after going through second elbow surgery in December he decided not to play a single match this season. After Archer was struck with back-to-back injuries former English cricketer Kevin Pietersen expressed his concerns over this situation, “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.”
“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” the 41-year-old English player also added. Archer’s latest injury raises questions regarding modern-day players’ fitness. Pietersen brought up many legendary senior players to respond to the referred topic,” They 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.”
Needless to mention that the England team will be in trouble in case Jofra sustains any further injury anytime soon. Within a short duration of his career, he has exhibited signs of superiority with three 5 wicket haul in Test with an economy of 3.00 and 4.74 in ODI. Supposedly a stress fracture in the back takes almost six to eight weeks to properly rehabilitate and even a few weeks extra to start training again. Hopefully, after that, we can see Archer back to the net healed and preparing for the upcoming season.