STRAIN STOPPED PLAY
IPL greed has robbed us of Jofra
IT WAS supposed to be one of the sights of the summer.
Jofra Archer steaming in to unleash red rockets at Australian batsmen in the biggest series of them all.
It still might happen, too.
But the growing feeling in cricketing circles is that Archer’s participation in the Ashes for England will turn to dust.
You guessed it. Archer is injured again. The Barbadian speedster has returned home from the IPL due to a problem with the same elbow which has blighted his career.
The England and Wales Cricket Board insist Archer will now undergo a period of “rest and rehabilitation” ahead of the first Test, which starts at Edgbaston in five weeks.
What planet are those who run the sport living on?
Despite multiple surgeries on his elbow, Archer cannot get through a four-over spell in a T20 match without feeling pain – so what chance does he have of getting through the most intense and demanding five-Test series of them all?
The Aussies must be doing cartwheels.
Those same Aussies who backed the decision of their own pace ace Pat Cummins to miss the IPL and take a break from the game to prepare for this summer’s showdown.
Despite the decision of Ben Stokes to retire from one-day internationals, the sport’s authorities around the world have ignored the wake-up call and continued to abuse the welfare of those who make the game so special in the first place.
And if the status quo doesn’t change, then stars like Archer need to work it out for themselves and start putting their welfare before the wealth on offer in competitions like the IPL.
Archer, who has not played a first-class match for two years, now appears to have sacrificed his place in the greatest series of the lot for the sake of just five games – and two wickets – for the Mumbai Indians. Cummins must be grinning from ear to ear.
But he will also be shaking his head at how those involved in the Archer scenario can allow it to happen.
“Cricket’s 12 months of the year,” said Cummins.
“I was just burnt out and I just remember thinking, ‘Jeez, I want to do this until I’m 35. I’ve got to find a way to balance all these different things.’”
Archer needs to take a long look at himself and shoulder some of the blame, while those who advise him need to give their heads a serious wobble.
The imminent arrival of the Aussies should evoke memories of that sensational duel between Archer and Steve Smith at Lords back in 2019, which left the latter concussed and seeing stars.
It was Test cricket at its most compelling. Now it feels like those memories are all we will continue to have instead of getting new ones – and that’s the biggest tragedy of all.