Jofra Archer ~ freak accident - glass in tendon !!

Keeping fish in home aquarium is a hobby enjoyed by many. It need not be a big set-up.  In my early days, used to keep Guppies fish in Horlicks bottles !  - they  bring along a very soothing effect.  Besides homes, we see fish tanks at many office receptions too !   Watching the beautiful  fishes gracefully swim  and feeding them is a great way to reduce stress.  .. .. can that harm in any manner ?

In the recently concluded ODI Series saw the tall Topley bowl .. ..  Reece James William Topley  in the past 5 years, has had four stress fractures, one bout of surgery and countless injections but has overcome them all and bowled reasonably well at Pune.

Cricketers, like other sportspersons are plagued by injuries.  In the recent tour to Australia on the day of the start of fourth and final Brisbane Test with the series tied 1-1, the team resembled a mini-hospital as coach Ravi Shastri and skipper Ajinkya Rahane tried every trick to  put together a fit eleven.  The injuries did provide many opportunities to many youngsters who had remained with the team as net-bowlers.  It was a tour when India was hard-hit by injuries to players starting with Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneswarkumar, Varun Chakravarthi, Rohit Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Hanuma Vihari, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Mayank Agarwal .. ..   

Ashish Nehra had a stellar 18-year playing career. However, the number of injuries was such that in that entire period, he was restricted to just 17 Tests, 120 ODIs and 27 T20Is. Groin, back, ankle, hamstring and calf injuries were so prominent that Ashish Nehra could never be in the Indian team for a long time.

Jofra Archer has come a long way overcoming the high expectations right from the WC 2019 and playing 40 odd International matches thus far .. .. having  flown home before the one-day series, Archer was already scheduled to miss the start of the IPL that begins on 9 April, but England are expected to decide in the coming days whether he can feature at the back end of the tournament, or whether he has to tell Rajasthan Royals they need to source a replacement. If so he would forgo his £800,000 deal with Rajasthan this year, although it is possible he may have insured his earnings against injury.

However, the need to treat the fast bowler’s longstanding elbow issue with a second cortisone injection made this week the ideal time for a specialist to double-check. Speaking on Monday evening, team director Ashley Giles confirmed a freak incident. “It’s true, it was a fish tank,” Giles told BBC Radio 5 live. “He’s been in surgery today and come out of it well. It was managed through India but given that he came home for treatment on his elbow, he [also] went to a specialist. The finger was stiff. They found a fragment of glass in the tendon.

A number of England’s cricketers have now linked up with their Indian Premier League teams but it remains to be seen if Jofra Archer will join them after surgery on a finger injury he suffered when accidentally smashing a fish tank in January. Archer, 25, underwent a procedure on Monday to remove a fragment of glass from a tendon inside his right middle finger, having reported some minor irritation in the digit after playing two Tests and all five Twenty20s during England’s time in India.  The Guardian learned this was the result of Archer dropping a fish tank in a bath at his home in Hove while attempting to clean it. England say the cut, which healed over before he arrived on tour, did not affect his availability for selection.

“This is going to sound like an awful conspiracy,” Giles told the Tuffers and Vaughan programme. “He was cleaning or something at home and he’s got a fish tank, dropped the fish tank, cut his hand. “So he’s been in surgery today (Monday), he’s come out of it well. It was managed through India.” He added: “I think they’ve found a small fragment of glass still in the tendon so it was the right thing to do.”

Archer, who is a key player for England across all formats, will miss the start of the Indian Premier League, which runs from April 9 to May 30. England face a packed schedule of matches this year including a five-Test series at home against India, a T20 World Cup in India and the Ashes in Australia. Archer has been troubled by his elbow since 2019, missing three Tests of England’s tour of South Africa in early 2020 and the T20 series that followed. His England team-mate Ben Stokes said last week that Archer needed to get his elbow “properly sorted” to protect his long-term career.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
31.3.2o21