Archer, England and overuse
England had an exceptionally talented player and they bowled him into the ground
Every now and then I get requests from some readers about what they want to read on Stumped! One reader asked if I could do a piece on the old Western Province team. I am working on it. Another reader asked if I could write stuff on big-match temperament and how it’s developed in players. I am also working on that. One reader asked me what I thought about the Jofra Archer situation, here is my take:
If the match had not been delayed by rain, Jofra Archer would have started for England. But, rain had prevented play on the morning of Friday 24 January 2020, and the start of the last match in the four-Test series between South Africa and England had been delayed until 1.20 pm. While going through his prematch warmup, Archer felt pain while bowling out in the middle.
He rushed to consult with Anita Biswas, the England team doctor. I remember reading that Archer had been close to tears as he discussed his involvement in the match with Joe Root and Chris Silverwood. They did not think they could risk playing him. In my mind, I saw a passionate young cricketer watching his international career sink to the bottom of the river. The image of a distraught Jofra Archer brought me close to tears.
It didn't seem fair that Jofra Archer would come this far only to come this far. In his first season of cricket in the UK, Archer found himself playing in the Sussex backwaters. He turned out for Middleton-on-Sea and slept on the floor of Akeem Jordan's modest digs. In one game, Archer reduced Cuckfield to 8 for 5, taking all five wickets, but then couldn't bowl any more. He arrived in the UK with a back problem that just seemed not to go away. Had he been able to bowl more overs, Middleton-on-Sea could have won. Instead, Cuckfield recovered and went on to win.
Archer's talent was obvious, but Middleton-on-Sea couldn't rely on him, so they didn't play him. His back was unreliable. Archer had back injury issues - as young fast bowlers are prone to. A 2015 study published by the South African Journal of Sports Medicine shows how younger bowlers are exceptionally prone to bone injuries. The study echoes findings by the Israeli military. “Their findings showed that as age increased from 17 years through to 26 years, bony injury risk decreased by 28% per year,” they wrote.
The dream of a Bajan boy to play professional cricket took a knock as he went a couple of rungs lower from the Sussex Premier League to village cricket. He joined Two Hopes Cricket Club, thanks to Akeem Jordan. After Jordan was invited to strengthen Two Hopes, he asked if he could bring his mate Jofra along.
Two Hopes is a social cricket club, the football equivalent would be boozers, I think. Once every two or so years they go on a tour of the west country. Archer joined them in one such year. George Dobell tells a story of how, after digging themselves in a hole, Archer and Chris Jordan saved the Two Hopes by stitching together a 180-run match-winning partnership with Chris Jordan. He didn't bowl in that match but kept wicket.
What endeared him to the Two Hopes team wasn't his obvious talent, but his character. He was always helping with something - cooking, washing and any other chores around the rented house the team lived in while they were in Cornwall.
24 hours after his heroics with bat and glove, Two Hopes played against Falmouth. Archer was dismissed on the second delivery he faced. He spent the rest of the day filling in as scorer and umpire - as all club veterans do. Two Hopes had no means to pay Archer anything; he understood that from the onset. Despite being broke, he agreed to tour with them. Archer was so broke that he had no spending money and only ate when the team had breakfast or dinner.
Jon Filby, the Two Hopes co-founder noticed this and ensured his plate was always full at mealtime.
I learned these facts about Archer before he made his international debut. Since then, he has always been the big-hearted bowler who gave his all to play for England. That image is cemented in my mind.
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Exactly four years to the day from the day he played his outstanding knock in the amateur Sussex cricket league, Jofra Archer opened the bowling for England against Australia and destroyed the opposition. England had found a superstar. Nothing describes his star quality as well as this paragraph by Ben Stokes in his book, On Fire:
"One thing that has developed is a bit of lighthearted fun from the team towards Jofra because of how easy he finds things on the cricket field. We refer to these as ‘Jof-isms’. Things come so easily and naturally to him, he doesn’t understand that this isn’t the case for everybody. So anything he can do he just considers to be the norm. During group chats among the bowlers, someone will discuss bowling a certain delivery and he explains how to do it so matter of factly, as if it is the easiest thing in the world. Of course, for a normal person it isn’t. His general attitude is ‘yeah, I just run up and do it.’ That’s a Jof-ism."
Joe Root was so giddy with excitement over what Archer could do he forgot that one of his duties as captain was to look after his players. Archer could take the new ball, act as an enforcer or do whatever the captain required, except for swinging the ball. Like a kid with a new toy, Root deployed Archer more than any other bowler in his side. During the 2019 Ashes, Archer sent down 156 overs across four Tests, at an average of 39 overs per Test. In one match, Archer bowled a total of 44 overs.
In November 2019, Archer bowled 82 overs in 2 Tests which started 8 days apart. In one match he bowled 42 out of 201 overs in a single innings. Archer, who debuted in May 2019, bowled more overs than any other England bowler that year. He delivered a total of 400.5 overs across all three formats in 2019.
In 2004, a team of Australian researchers published a study that showed the relationship between high bowling workloads and an increased risk of injury. “The risk of injury was much higher for those bowlers with a sessional, weekly and monthly bowling workload above the group mean, especially when this high workload was consistent and sustained,” they wrote.
Billy Hulin and his fellow researchers conducted a study that echoes the 2004 study. They wrote, “Increases in acute workload are associated with increased injury risk in elite cricket fast bowlers.”
This is because the throwing mechanism required by both fielders and fast bowlers is a whip‐like motion of the arm which places repetitive traction strain on the elbow joints. In 2019, Michael Holding commented that England’s use of Archer was tantamount to abuse, noting that it was not sustainable. Archer had bowled a third of the overs, a spinner’s quota, on the day when Holding made the comments.
Barely a year into his international career, England had bowled that big-hearted youngster from Barbados into the ground. In January 2020, he broke down. Since then, he has appeared on the international scene in small doses. In May 2023, Archer is as distraught as he was in January 2020.
Jofra Archer’s international career is a cautionary tale. The temptation to play your best bowler in every match is great. The temptation to bowl your best bowler when a captain runs out of ideas is even greater. But it comes at a cost. South Africa is fortunate Kagiso Rabada did not breakdown in the same manner.
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Thanks for reading. Until next time… - CS
I wonder if the same thing applies to Jaspreet Bumrah. India play so much cricket and have used him a lot. Wonder if that has played a role in his injury.
Just hope this is widely read and the lesson is learn't. The problem is that it does not really help poor Jofra. So many people should have known so much better.