Target England as Archer set on his way by Jordan
CHRIS Jordan is the reason why Jofra Archer swapped Barbadian sands for the beaches of Hove – and Sussex’s rising star is not done following his mentor as he targets a Test career with England.
Sussex’s bowling attack has been swaying to a calypso beat ever since the laid-back Archer started making batsmen dance to his tune last month.
The Pakistanis were the first ones to misjudge his rhythm as four of their premier batsmen, including skipper Misbah-ul-Haq, fell to the 21-year-old on his firstclass debut.
That performance alone was worth a covert check of his ancestry and, as he continues to impress, it’s good news for England.
“At the moment I’ll be going the England way,” said Archer, who possesses a British passport through his father Frank.
“I’ve signed for next season and, hopefully, I’ll re-sign again for Sussex after that, so I’m going to be in England for the near future and I want to see what happens.
“When I was selected to play against Pakistan I was completely shocked – I had been playing in a 2nd XI game, and I played all right, taking four or five wickets. I was then told I’d be in the squad, and I only thought I’d be 12th man.
“But on the day the captain (Ben Brown) told me I was playing.”
Such has been his impact that coach Mark Davis has described him as a potential “superstar” while he has no bigger supporter at Hove than club captain Luke Wright.
But Sussex owe a great deal of gratitude to Jordan, who whisked Archer away from under the noses of Northamptonshire after a chance meeting in the Bridgetown bowling nets in 2014.
“CJ (Jordan) was playing firstclass cricket in Barbados and as young players we would get invited down to do net bowling,” explained Archer, a former West Indies U19 international.
“He started watching me and we just got talking and this was a couple of days before he left as he was going back to England.
“So I told him I wanted to explore my options and that I had a British passport, and it pretty much went from there.
“I always wanted to play cricket in England, but I never thought it would happen the way it has.
“I don’t think I would be Sussex if it wasn’t for him, because some English teams come to Barbados during pre-season and I was supposed to go to Northants after they had watched me.
“But a couple of days before I was due to go, CJ and I spoke a lot, he told me that he’d speak to the Sussex coaches and that was that. Phil Salt is also from Barbados and that having a couple of players from there really helped.”
While Jordan may be his inspiration, Archer is not cut from quite the same cloth – the 21-year-old glides to the crease rather than gallops before producing pace that is at odds with his run-up.
Essex trio Nick Browne, Tom Westley and Dan Lawrence – all potential England candidates – found that out to their expense last week as Archer took finely-crafted figures of 3-84 in his first County Championship innings.
And there is hope yet that Archer can turn into a genuine allrounder after putting on 140 for the seventh wicket in partnership alongside Jordan.
Batting is a skill that the softlyspoken seamer admits he was forced to develop further after suffering a back injury that had stalled his progress at Sussex up until this season.
“I started playing Second XI cricket for Sussex in 2014 but I had a stress fracture in my back, and I was out for pretty much the next two years,” added Archer, whose share of the stand was 73.
“I came back too early in the middle of it and made things worse.
“I went back to Barbados in the winters and was playing some club cricket in the summer as a batsman, so I wasn’t fully around the club.
“I’ve always felt comfortable batting but I hadn’t had the option to do it in the Second XI, and this year I’ve been able to show it.”
Not that Archer ever expected it to happen quite so quickly and so often this summer – Horsham, not Hove, is where he had been showcasing his talents before his breakthrough.
“I played six or seven games this year but since I played against the Pakistanis, I’ve just been with Sussex,” said Archer.
“It’s a bit different with the weather and there’s no sand – the beaches are pebbly! But I’ve adapted because I’ve played a lot of cricket here now, and time in England visiting my dad.
“I don’t think Barbados is a worse place to develop than England, the difference is the facilities over here – they are much better.”