Archer has to keep his head up

THE news Jofra Archer had O last week was devastating. To get a stress fracture of the back, having pretty much completed his rehabilitation from an elbow injury, was a cruel blow.

He is trying to keep his chin up. That said, it is pretty hard when you are out for the season. And it won’t be easy for him to be around cricket, or watch it.

One thing he mustn’t do is lose faith. Over the next few months, he must do anything he can to come back stronger. He’s still young at 27, the age when fast bowlers hit their best. There is still a long career ahead of him.

Olly Stone, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher have all been sidelined by similar issues and it has led to questions why.

I wonder if there is something in that through the pandemic, when you couldn’t transfer from a Test squad to county cricket or a first XI to a second XI, there was a period of deload that has affected bowlers’ spines. Then when workloads have increased again, it has shaken the body.