During last year’s Ashes series England captain Joe Root was warned to not over-bowl starlet Jofra Archer. The new darling of English cricket was an irresistible option with the ball, but like all good things needed to be used in moderation.
As Archer made his mark on the international scene quicker than almost any player in history, he was expected to shoulder a huge load with it. From his international debut in May 2019 he would bowl 400.5 overs for England until the end of the year. The next highest, Stuart Broad, bowled 301.4 during this time.
As Archer’s pace and effectiveness started to drop later in the year, questions arose about his commitment to the cause. This despite playing a leading role in a World Cup and Ashes series mere months prior. Fans and even some pundits, who should know far better, deciphered that his seemingly languid style revealed an apathetic attitude.
But really he was just very sore. Root then asked the 24-year-old to bowl 42 overs in the first Test against New Zealand in November. Again, as way of comparison, Broad has never bowled this many overs in a single innings throughout his 138-Test career, while Jimmy Anderson has done so once.
But Root wanted more, and after that Test, which England lost, he implored him to “unleash a little bit more” and “make every spell count”.
(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Perhaps it’s little surprise, then, that Archer has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his elbow and will likely miss the next three months of cricket, including England’s tour of Sri Lanka and the IPL. Root wasn’t alone in squeezing too much from Archer, but he was certainly most culpable and has failed in his duty as captain.
He denied allegations of overburdening Archer, his justification centring on the amount of cricket he had played before his international debut in May. But Root himself knows the spike in intensity playing internationally compared to the County Championship.
The disappointing news is a cautionary tale for Australian cricket which, by contrast, has seemingly handled their top fast bowlers well in the past few years. Australia’s decision to rotate most of their fast bowlers throughout the Ashes campaign was a key reason for retaining the urn for the first time in 18 years.
And while luck undoubtedly plays a role in injury rates, Justin Langer’s seemingly long-term outlook regarding the health of his quicks has worked thus far. In 2019 Australia was arguably the least-affected by fast bowler injuries in the world, despite playing the equal-most Test matches (12).
Perhaps key to the success of the rotation policy during the Ashes was the buy-in from players. Despite playing just one Test on the back of a dominant World Cup campaign, Mitchell Starc was reportedly remained an ever-positive figure in the change rooms.
James Pattinson, better placed than most to understand and appreciate rotation, knew that a managed load was in everyone’s best interests.
“As big as an Ashes series is, you have to think of it long term,” he said. “If that’s resting after bowling a fair few overs, I’m sure the next guy coming in … or if I’m doing that for some other guy … it will help us long-term and hold us in good shape going into the summer and beyond that.”
Only Josh Hazlewood was injured this summer with a relatively minor hamstring strain, one that he returned to action from in just over three weeks.
But some, including Brett Lee, don’t agree with the rotation policy. In fact at the start of the summer the 76-Test quick said he “hated it”.
“I don’t have an issue with resting a bowler if they’re carrying a niggle that they can’t play with,” he told the Saturday Telegraph. “I’m talking about a niggle where you could literally rip it off the bone next ball.
“I played my whole career with niggles. But I knew the difference (between a niggle and something more serious) because I bowled through the pain.”
But Lee himself had stress fractures early in his career and undoubtedly had little awareness then of his true ‘limit’. He went on: “Your hammy is sore? Yeah, you’re a bowler playing Test cricket. You’re going to have sore hammies. Glutes are sore, my calves are sore. It’s going to happen. You’re going to be sore everywhere – and if you’re not sore, you’re not trying hard enough.”
Archer was sore and was told he wasn’t trying hard enough. He played on through the pain and now he’s on the sidelines. Without a sports science background and knowledge of individual cases it’s difficult to make sweeping comments about fast bowler rotation.
But in the case of precocious, arguably generational talents like Archer, veering towards conservatism is surely the best course of action.
Had Root and England better read the signs, they might not be in this position.
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Roar Rookie
Hoping the darling of Bridgetown is fit to tour Australia for the next Ashes series. His batting on lively wickets will be a highlight.
Tony Tea
Roar Rookie
Does a stress fracture in the elbow suggest Archer's action may be, ahem, unconventional?
Paul
Roar Guru
That may be right Paul, but he's got some pretty ordinary cattle to work with as well,certainly in the Test arena. Hard to know whether he's simply not a Test captain or whether he's a poor captain because he's trying to hold a pretty ordinary mob together.
Paul
Roar Guru
Agreed,but that's only a tiny part of the issue. Langer and his staff spend a lot of time working on bowling workloads, schedules,etc. This is not limited to how many overs these guys bowl, but which games they play, how much they bowl in practice throughout the season, when and how they rest between bowling sessions, etc. Archer's injury is not simply down to him being asked to bowl a few prolonged spells,it's all about hows he's being managed year round - or currently mismanaged! Clearly he's been overworked but again, I think this is not only down to his captain, but to a lack of foresight by the guys in the background who provide support and do the selecting as well.
Simoc
Guest
I think Roots captaincy of Archer is the worst I have ever seen in International cricket. He may well have killed off the goose that lays the golden eggs. At best Roots captaincy has always been abysmal but continuing to bowl Archer after 5 overs, let alone 10 showed Root up as a grossly incompetent fool in the Ashes series. Root seems to a poorly educated golden boy who those above think can do no wrong. His use of Woakes in the Ashes was also hopeless. The guy isn't up to it though he is surrounded by such huge talent. He is the weak link.
Nudge
Roar Rookie
The bowler usually is ok in the middle of a ripping spell. Not many aren’t. It’s the captain’s job to think beyond that and take the emotion of the moment out of his mind. Otherwise you see the results we are seeing
Paul
Roar Guru
Bowling anyone for long periods is an issue first of all for the squad as part of their match plan, then for the captain and the individual bowler on the field and you can be sure he's constantly communicating to make sure the bowler is okay to get through another over. Of course Root has the final say, but he's no different than say Ian Chappell using up DK Lillee. I don't seem to recall anyone getting livid because he asked Lillee constantly for long spells.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Number of overs in a game is definitely the issue. But some bowlers have more endurance to be able to bowl more overs than other bowlers do. And generally the strain caused by bowling really fast is harder to sustain over lots of long spells without causing issues to your body. (ie, bowling 40 overs at 90% of your top pace is a lot easier on your body than bowling 40 overs where you are straining for your top pace constantly!) Of course, in Archer's case, the reason Root kept bowling him way too much was he wanted that extreme pace from him constantly. He didn't want him to drop his pace to become more of a workhorse. He wanted the aggression and pace, but wanted it constantly for lots of overs. And that's just too much to expect from any bowler. But yes, the depth does have a lot to do with it. If the captain feels like he can take a bowler off and the guy who comes on to replace him will keep all the pressure on, then he won't feel the need to run the bowler into the ground as much as he will feel he needs to if he has the thought that all the pressure will be relieved by any of the bowlers he can replace them with. It's not just with Archer either. There was one point in the Ashes where Root had Stokes bowl something like 18 overs in a spell or something ridiculous like that. He bowled well, and kept the pressure on, but it just about killed him and the next test he barely bowled, before officially declaring that he couldn't bowl and would just play as a batsman in the final test, which pushed them to drop another batsman to bring in a fifth bowler. Unless this is a vital test match, the last in a series, and there won't be any more cricket for 3 months after this, a captain needs to think beyond the current innings in managing bowlers workloads, and resist the urge to just keep a bowler on because they are bowling well, when they really need a break.
Dutski
Roar Guru
Spot on Nudge
Nudge
Roar Rookie
Bowling him for 10 or 11 over spells is Roots fault. No one else’s. A bit like when he bowled Stokes for 15 straight. If Paine did that to Cummins, we would be livid
Larry1950
Guest
Rotation in itself sucks but proper rest for bowlers with chequered injury histories is another matter. In that ashes series, the team first attitude shone through in all the bowlers, including Neser who was never seen kicking stones when unluckily omitted. By comparison to Archer in the same period, how many overs did Cummins bowl as our 'go to' quick?
JamesH
Roar Guru
Precisely. Guys like Woakes and Curran should be doing the workmanlike spells. Unless Archer really has his tail up I'm not sure why you would ever bowl him in spells of more than five overs. Same with Starc (and England generally have more bowling options in their best XI than Australia anyway).
Paul D
Roar Rookie
What do you expect, Root is a garbage skipper. England hasn't had a decent captain since Michael Vaughan retired.
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
Yeah, my impression was that he was precious. Problems with him began before he was over bowled. It’s possible he’s a tool and Root didn’t manage him well also.
Paul
Roar Guru
"As Archer’s pace and effectiveness started to drop later in the year, questions arose about his commitment to the cause." I don't doubt Archer wasn't sore as you suggest David, but I'm equally sure there were times when he was clearly not in the game, especially on those Test pitches in New Zealand. There were times when he was barely bowling medium pace and that certainly didn't appear to have anything to do with injury, but more to do with attitude. That said, the issue is all about player management and in that regard, there's no way Root should shoulder the blame. England will no doubt have their fitness people monitoring players workloads, etc, selectors will come up with teams to play the various formats and the squad will come up with bowling plans ( and Archer would have not only a say in that but be well aware what was expected from him). Root's only role in all of this is to implement the agreed plans, using guys passed fit by his experts. I totally agree ANY player should have their time & fitness properly managed, so they don't suffer the sort of injuries Archer, but to suggest this is the captain's fault, at this level, is simply wrong
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
Its not dropping your speed that matters as much as the number of overs in a game. Australia doesn't need Lyon to bowl that many overs in an innings, let alone expect the pacemen to. Thats because we have depth in any side, 4 to 5 bowlers who could take a 5fa any game.
Insult_2_Injury
Roar Rookie
‘Archer was sore and was told he wasn’t trying hard enough…’ That comment is disingenuous at best! Root and the lack of quality 3/4/5 bowling options for England is the problem. Root has failed as a captain by continually going to Archer when his body language tells a captain his spell should be over. Lee is right in so far as the rotation is irrelevant to Australia as they know they have 5/6 quality options and on the day rotate regularly through 4/5 bowlers keeping them fresh and the attack varied. Both Starc and Pattinson are on record this summer saying ‘you’ want to be out there every game. Without Root pushing your workload there’s no need for that to be a cautionary tale for the Aussies, it is poor captaincy exacerbated by lack of depth.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
I would like to know what Root was thinking all this time. Was he simply trying to get as much as he could out of Archer because he saw him as the most likely to take wickets or was he really trying to nurse his two ageing champions (Broad and Anderson) along. I wonder if he would have managed Archer differently if he had a couple of younger quicks, along with Stokes, in his team. As mentioned in the article, Woakes seems to be out of favour though he seems a very fine cricketer to me and I guess it hasn't helped that the other really fast bowler in the England set up (Mark Wood) seems to be constantly injured. I suppose its all academic but it would be interesting to know the true reason Archer has been used the way he has.
Brian
Guest
So its better to rest players from tours of Sri Lanka and the IPL rather then have them injured for tours of Sri Lanka and the IPL? Isn't the end result the same Archer will be fit for the English summer
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Root's use of archer, and rotation policies are two different things. I think for someone in Pattinson's position, where he's had so many injuries and regularly got re-injured soon after returning, being extra careful with him is reasonable, gradually build up the workload he can handle. But overall, once bowlers bodies are fit and strong, and they understand themselves, they can bowl lots. Cummins has got to a point where he can, but part of that is also that he doesn't overdo it himself. He can bowl 150, but rarely does, more often operating around the 140 mark in test cricket. So not only is his body now strong, but he manages himself pretty well. From Archer's first test you could see Root overdoing it. He had Woakes in his team barely bowling despite a great record in the conditions they were bowling in, meanwhile he went to Archer for long spell after long spell, bowling flat out each time. Within a couple of tests you could already see it affecting him.