England's Ed Smith does not rule out Jofra Archer for World Cup
Ed Smith declined to rule out the possibility of Jofra Archer entering England’s World Cup thoughts next summer despite the fast bowler’s impending eligibility coming too late for the Test and one-day tours to the Caribbean that start a bumper 2019.
A recent decision by the England and Wales Cricket Board to cut national qualification by way of residency from seven years down to three has raised the possibility of the highly rated Sussex paceman making a late play for the World Cup, not least with a view to bolstering Eoin Morgan’s options during the “death” overs.
Archer, a Barbados-born British passport holder, is already committed to a stint in Australia’s Big Bash League, his representatives told the Guardian on Monday. He is not due to have completed the requisite 210 days of UK residency in his third year of qualification until mid-March.
That means the 23-year-old cannot make the 15-man one-day party that faces West Indies in February – Ollie Stone drops out after the 3-1 win in Sri Lanka, with Mark Wood retained and fit-again David Willey replacing Sam Curran. Thus it would be a case of an uncapped player leapfrogging others were England to include him when submitting their provisional World Cup squad on 23 April.
Smith, the national selector, looked to play a straight bat when announcing the squads on Monday, stating his panel had simply picked from the pool of available players at this stage. When pressed on Archer, he replied: “I wouldn’t rule anything out. I don’t really believe in ruling things out. It’s more like when a decision comes up, you attend to it with as much focus and clarity as you can.”
Morgan, a loyal captain of a team that will enter the home World Cup as favourites given their No 1 status, looked to downplay Archer’s chances last summer, insisting only injury would change things. He has also spoken of players needing experience going into the tournament. Smith said he agrees before adding, cryptically, that “experience takes many forms”. He has not, however, spoken to the player.
Were Archer’s Hobart Hurricanes to miss out on the final stages of the Big Bash his representatives have said there is an outside chance he could yet be eligible for part of the three-match Twenty20 series against West Indies in early March. The squad for this remains pending and so for now it is down to the seamers in Morgan’s tour party to ensure Archer remains a hypothetical.
As regards Joe Root’s Test squad, which begins a three-match series in Barbados on 23 January, the chief beneficiary appeared to be Joe Denly. Though he impressed on his England T20 return with four wickets – enough to nudge out Liam Dawson as the oneday squad’s spin-bowling all-rounder – he scarcely featured in the Test debate in Sri Lanka after scores of 25 and nought during the warm-ups.
During his eight months in the job, Smith has made a policy of not publicly discussing names who feature in selection but miss out. On Jason Roy, however, he did note “a very talented cricketer” who is being monitored closely, even if it is the 32-year-old Denly who has been retained as the reserve toporder batsman in this latest Test squad.
With Ben Foakes a late addition to the Sri Lanka squad before ending up man of the series in the 3-0 victory through both top-scoring with bat and wicketkeeping flawlessly, it is Ollie Pope who makes way to avoid an unwieldy squad of 17. Further experience is expected to come when the Lions tour India in January, and Smith added that “big picture, nothing has changed” in terms of how the 20-year-old Surrey right-hander is viewed by the panel.
England’s selectors thus had a relatively straightforward task when they convened on Monday – the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, via conference call – and not least after Ben Stokes and Alex Hales were deemed to have already served suspensions when the Cricket Disciplinary Commission handed down punishments for 2017’s street fight in Bristol.
Stokes will not be restored as Test vice-captain, however; Smith cited the success of Jos Buttler as deputy to Root during their last two series wins over India and Sri Lanka. “Changing that at the moment does not seem to be a priority,” he said.