Such a shame as he really does have that extra zip. I spent 20 mins last week against a 70mph bowling machine. Got my eye in eventually (first ball broke a stump) He bowls over 90. I guess if you have the physique / muscles to do it, those same components don’t have the resilience to stand it. Look at almost all the really quick bowlers, injury after injury. Granted bowling at “just” 80 is still about 30mph beyond me!
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I have no shame in saying that the reason I never played cricket at any decent level as a kid was that I was terrified of the red ball. Some of the lads I used to play with (taped tennis balls or school balls) were savage. Fuck facing 90mph balls.
These fast bowlers put a lot of torsion through their bodies, so its no surprise they fall apart early. It’s going to be a case of bowling slower (but still fast!) and more accurately for Archer to make anything of his career now.
That’s the problem though, the required accuracy and consistency (at lower pace) to be really successful are what set Glen McGrath and Jimmy Anderson apart. As for me, getting smacked on an unpadded bit just makes me try to hit the ball harder. No wonder my average this season is 7……
Mcgrath and Anderson are highly successful bowlers but i would rather watch someone like Steyn over them.
Stress Fractures derail careers though. Not sure but i think theres been some modification of jofras action and generally its the changing of the actions that cause these issues.
Too many fast bowlers have wasted away time doing unnecessary modifications whereby sticking to a repeatable action is what prolongs careers
Alternatively, the extra action lots of younger bowlers add to try to get that additional pace they are striving for is what makes their action not viable for the long term, and so a big part of the remodelling process lots of promising young bowlers will undergo is trying to find a more efficient action that will preserve their pace at a less physically stressful way.
Tiger went through something similar with his swing in the early 2000s and came out the other end just as long but with a swing he could sustain into his thirties and longer.
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There are other correlations. The likes of Irfan Pathan took too much corrections to the actions on the account of maintaining longetivity and suffered with effectiveness.
Note the parallel to bumrah who has maintained his action despite it being odd…and while he has had his stress fracture , in all probabilty looks likely to have 10 odd years in the game.
The build of the bowler often causes a problem. Fast bowlers usually have thin shoulders… Anyone having a broad shoulder in cricket is always a no no. Jofra has that issue i feel.
Pretty sure Jimmy is an exception. Had his action re-modelled and suffered loads of injuries so went back to his original and, well, look at him now.
As for Tiger, possibly his new swing meant he had the physical ability to have far more fun after a round of golf which ultimately almost destroyed his whole world.
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Still pretty frequently injured?
He is 67. And you don’t achieve what he has by being frequently injured.
Turning into another Alex Tudor. Supremely talented and physically gifted but nightmarish injury problems
I often wonder if it would be worth bowling at 90mph for an innings or bowling 65 for a season.
I guess that’s also a quality, being able to bowl at high pace for prolonged periods without getting regular injuries. Brett Lee was one only one recently who stayed at a very high pace level consistently. All the other ones either broke down from time to time or had to drop their pace.
Brett Lee had his problems with injuries as well. Basically anyone clocking consistently over 92 does have those issues.
But with Lee , Akthar … Those were bowlers bowling close to 160 at times on a consistent basis
None of the current lot get close to that. 145 to early 150s at best i would say for the lot of them. Very rapid pace…but the likes of Archer still seem to rack up the injury count.
Used to love watching Shane Bond. First morning of a new test, watching an express bowler live at the ground is pulsating viewing.
But as you say, more often than not, these type of bowlers inevitably succumb to injuries.
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One guy who i thought would be injury free was Steyn but he had huge injury problems during the last 4-5 years of his career
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20/20 leagues can’t have helped. Too much cricket
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