Why the latest injury to England's 'generational talent

It would take the flintiest heart not to feel for Jofra Archer.

His latest demoralising injury blow - ruled out of the entire home summer with a recurrence of the stress fracture in his right elbow - is surely the cruellest.

However fanciful it was - and it was highly fanciful - that Archer would feature in the Ashes, the dreams of England supporters were fuelled by what the fast bowler is (or was) capable of.

Archer is a generational talent. His arrival on the international stage in 2019 was the most exciting by an England player since Kevin Pietersen.

In terms of bowlers, it is hard to think of any new England star that got the pulse racing quite like Jofra.

Archer was trusted to bowl a super over for the ages in the World Cup final and then, on Test debut, produced a knockout bouncer to floor Steve Smith in a passage of Test cricket equally as compelling as Andrew Flintoff's famous Ashes over at Edgbaston in 2005.

After a diet of almost exclusively (and some very talented) fast-medium bowlers, English cricket was dining at Archer's banquet. He was the promised land.