Tough to Imagine Jofra Archer Playing Long-Form Cricket Again: Kevin Pietersen

Jofra Archer was bought by IPL franchise Mumbai Indians during the mega auction in February for Rs 8 crore.

Pietersen passes verdict on Archer, says difficult to imagine him playing long-form cricket again.

Image: IANS

Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen has passed the verdict on the pace-bowling sensation of his country, Jofra Archer, saying that the cricketer might not play long-form cricket again following another injury blow.

Archer was on Thursday ruled out of the 2022 English summer after suffering a stress fracture on his lower back. The 27-year-old, who last played for England in March 2021, was hoping to make his comeback from a long-term elbow injury for Sussex in the T20 Blast next week.

He had planned to play some second-team warm-up matches before their opening fixture against Glamorgan next Thursday. But, the pacer never made it onto the pitch and now has been ruled out for the rest of the season.

Archer was bought by Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians during the mega auction in February this year for Rs eight crore, but could not play a single game this season as he was nursing an elbow injury.

"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," said Pietersen on Betway Insider.

"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."

Pietersen felt that its strange that modern-day young fast bowlers were picking up injuries with monotonous regularity, while legends like Curtly Ambrose, Shaun Pollock and Glenn McGrath who put in the hard yards, managed to have long and illustrious careers.

"They (several past fast-bowling greats) 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," added the former England batter.