India vs England: How music helped six-star Reece Topley to return to action after career ending injuries

Yuzvendra Chahal’s four-wicket haul was overshadowed by England’s Reece Topley in the second innings, when the latter managed to claim six and help England to a victory against India. Topley, 28, has been a livewire against India and he couldn’t stop his emotions to surface after his heroics at Lord’s on July 14.

“It means a lot,” Topley said. “It makes it all worthwhile, to be honest. It was just over that stand that I had surgery three years ago,” he pointed towards the Wellington Hospital. 

Also Read: Reece Topley help England steamroll India at Lord’s, level ODI series

“It’s everyone’s dream to play for England and I just want to pull on the shirt as often as I can,” he added.

While Topley is receiving affection from all over, it is not ancient history when he came close to an untimely retirement. Following his England debut at a young age,  injuries began to hamper his progress and the bowler came to the brink of leaving the sport for good.

Topley picked up his fourth stress fracture in 2019, in five years. While he initially thought to return after recuperating, the pain associated with the injury almost made him not come back.

“Just to bowl I was having to inject myself every day with a hormone in my stomach and once a month I had to come up to London to get an anaesthetic put in my back and then I would have to go to the gym for an hour before I bowled just to prepare everything because I was playing with a crack in my back. I reached the point where I couldn’t be bothered to go through it anymore because I was in so much pain,” The Telegraph quoted him in an interview in 2021.

However, his abilities were scarce. The England selectors promised to keep him in consideration if he recuperated and returned. This resulted in Topley deciding to go on a sabbatical for a year. He turned his focus towards music. Topley had friends working in the English music industry, and he became frequent at a Peckham-based studio.

“I have friends in the music industry, they felt it was a real kick in the teeth when a friend suggested they should all think about retraining. It’s definitely nice that I’ve got friends who do different things. A lot of them work in the city and it does give you a different perspective,” the England star revealed to itv in a recent interview.

Left-arm medium pacers are the talk of the town in cricket currently, and England did not have one when almost all of their top competitors managed to integrate one in their squads. Shaheen Afridi (Pakistan), Mitchell Starc (Australia ), Trent Boult (New Zealand ) and Neil Wagner (New Zealand) and Marco Jansen (South Africa) all gave their sides an edge, however, it wasn’t until Topley returned to the fold when England were also part of the same group. 

Also Read: India vs England 2nd ODI: Barmy Army mocks Virat Kohli after dismissal

Bowling evolved drastically during Topley’s absence from the top tier of cricket. “Up top, you’ve got to try and take wickets. If you can swing the ball up top, it’s harder to hit a moving ball than a ball that’s going straight, essentially,” he stated.

“I have so much confidence in my ability and if you look at the numbers I have produced, my ability speaks for itself. The only thing I have struggled with is back injuries but I have gone to war with this one and I will win it,” he declared. 

Reece Topley is back and it’s a wager to become the best in the world for him after the six-wicket haul against India.