"I woke up one day and it was almost this stiffness in my lower back."
Fit-again Henry Brookes eyes improvement after promising 2018

We all get to an age when this is our default vibe of a morning. But when you're 18 years old, it is something worth flagging.
Henry Brookes didn't at first. Though he felt his movement was restricted, he went along to Warwickshire's training session to see if he could run it off. But that only turned stiffness to pain. "At that point, I remember thinking I should really knock this on the head and let the physio know," Brookes recalls to Cricbuzz.
"I went to do a couple of tests. It's slightly strange because they put you in a couple of positions and moving you around. And that's when I definitely realised there was pain." Brookes was sent for a scan and, soon, his and the club's worst fears were confirmed. It was a stress fracture.
Luckily, it was only a partial fracture - "a crack in the bone". There was no need to operate - only for the rarest of 'stressies' does a bowler need to go under the knife - but simply a prescribed period of rest at first. A lot of time off his feet followed to ensure no pressure was going through the area before some basic bodyweight exercises and core work got him back on track to full fitness. But the fracture was identified in July 2018, curtailing what up to that point had been a breakout summer for the precocious quick.
Heads were turned at the start of the summer when Brookes rattled through 21 wickets (at an average of 21.38) in five Championship matches. It was the manner of them which struck the most: this lanky teen bounding into the crease, big gather with his right elbow pointing to the non-striker before unleashing a slingshot to the other end. No one was really sure of the speed, but given how batsmen were reacting to him, he was certainly quick enough for those at the ECB to sit up and take notice.
Further joy came in the T20 Blast when Brookes notched nine wickets in seven games and, impressively, went along with an economy rate of just 5.50. An indication of just how desperate England are for bowling of his ilk came when he earned a Lions call-up in June. A month later, he woke up with a bit of stiffness and, well, you know the