Olly Stone has suffered four stress fractures of the back, damaged a ligament celebrating a wicket, broken a finger playing 2nd XI county cricket, and missed last summer’s Ashes with hamstring trouble.
And when he makes his return to the Test team against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on Thursday after a three-year absence, he will do so with two screws in his spine, inserted just over the road at Wellington Hospital back in 2021.
When Stone – who will be the fastest bowler on show this week after Mark Wood was ruled out with the thigh injury sustained during England’s win in Manchester – refers to ‘dark times’, he knows what he is talking about.
Yet the fact that this will be only his fourth Test since his debut against Ireland five years ago means he will not hold back as he looks to book a place on the Ashes tour in 2025-26.
Can Stone bowl as fast as Wood, who touched 97mph against West Indies and Sri Lanka before his body packed in?
Pace bowler Olly Stone makes his return to England's Test side against Sri Lanka on Thursday
He will be the fastest bowler in England's bowling attack following Mark Wood's injury
‘It’s been pretty frightening the way he’s been bowling,’ he said with a smile. ‘Hopefully I can go out there and try and touch his speeds.’
Full marks for intent, even if it may be asking too much: Stone thinks his quickest recorded speed is 93.8mph, in the T20 Blast.
But if he can reach 90mph against Sri Lanka, he will have justified his place in managing director Rob Key’s spreadsheet column marked ‘fast’ – alongside Wood, Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue. The dream is to ensure at least three of them are on the plane to Australia.
Above all, Stone has finally come to trust his 30-year-old body, having wondered in the past whether it would simply refuse to his bidding.
‘There are dark times when you think: “Here we go, not another rehab session,”’ he said. ‘But I’ve got one of the best jobs in the world. There’s no better feeling than trying to bowl fast, so I’ll never stop doing that, whether I pick up a niggle or not.
‘The surgery in 2021 is the best thing I ever went in for, and thankfully I’ve had no recurrences. That’s why I’ll keep coming back for Test cricket, until my body tells me otherwise.’
His three Tests – most recently in June 2021 against New Zealand at Edgbaston – have brought him 10 wickets at 19, and there have been eight white-ball internationals during a career that has taken him from Northamptonshire to Nottinghamshire via Warwickshire.
But his cruel luck with injuries has limited him to 52 first-class games since he emerged in 2012, adding to the sense that this week almost feels like another Test debut.
Thursday's Test match will be Stone's fourth Test since his debut against Ireland five years ago
After three years out through injury, Stone has finally come to trust his 30-year-old body
Faced with the same career trajectory, others might have descended into cynicism. But he speaks with refreshing cheerfulness: ‘It’s been a long time, and Lord’s is a special place, so I just want to go out there and enjoy it, play with a smile on my face and hopefully the wickets will come.’
Meanwhile, England have challenged Jonny Bairstow to regain the form and fitness that made him one of the game’s most destructive players before he broke his leg on the golf course two years ago.
National selector Luke Wright said the 34-year-old Bairstow – who has already been dropped from the Test team after a mediocre tour of India – was ‘hugely disappointed’ by his omission from the white-ball squads for next month’s series against Australia, but insisted his England career was not over.
‘That’s not the case,’ said Wright. ‘We just want him back to being one of the best players in the world. He had that horrific injury, and that’s been the message: can we get you back to where you were pre-injury?
‘He understands that, but he doesn’t like it. One thing he will do is fight back, and I hope he does and gets himself back in the team. I’m certainly not going to write Jonny off.’
England have challenged Jonny Bairstow (right) to regain the form he showed two years ago
Jamie Smith has taken to Test cricket like a duck to water - and was sensational in the first Test
The swift rise of Jamie Smith has all but closed the door on a Test return for Bairstow, who won his 100th cap at Dharamsala in March. Meanwhile, Phil Salt has bedded in as captain Jos Buttler’s opening partner in the limited-overs formats.
And Buttler may relinquish the gloves during the T20 series against the Australians, starting on September 11, with Salt likely to step in.
‘It’s something Jos is open to,’ said Wright. ‘He’s spoken about that before, the need to be in the field and be with the bowlers at times.’
England team for 2nd Test v Sri Lanka: 1 Ben Duckett, 2 Dan Lawrence, 3 Ollie Pope (capt), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wkt), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Matthew Potts, 10 Olly Stone, 11 Shoaib Bashir.
