THE SUSSEX FAST BOWLER TAKING THE BIG BASH BY STORM
Shame England have to wait five years for him!
Sussex paceman Jofra Archer achieved the rare feat yesterday of a double-wicket maiden in a Twenty20 game in Australia. It’s just a shame he won’t qualify for england for another five years.
Joe Root’s Test attack have been made to look pedestrian by Australia’s in the Ashes. so the 22-year-old Archer touching 91mph while disposing of Marcus Harris and Tom Cooper on his Big Bash debut for Hobart Hurricanes felt like a shot in the arm.
But, agonisingly, the Barbados-born Archer — whose father is english — won’t qualify for england until 2022, having played for West Indies under 19s. unless the eCB can knock a couple of years off by an inventive interpretation of the residency qualifications, that is.
The trick now is to preserve his raw talent. At a time when Test bowler steven Finn has accused the county game of ‘ sucking pace’ from young quicks, that will not be easy.
still, there is genuine reason for excitement. ‘Been keeping a keen eye on Jofra Archer while playing for sussex,’ tweeted south African fast-bowling great Dale steyn. ‘Playing BBL now, this kid is gana be special!’
Plenty share steyn’s view, which is all the more poignant because Archer almost gave up on cricket altogether. After representing West Indies under 19s in 2013, he suffered a career-threatening stress fracture of the back, and he was grateful to his fellow islander Chris Jordan, who recommended Archer to sussex after facing him in the nets in Barbados.
While Archer’s back recovered, he bowled off- spin in the sussex Premier League for Middleton-on-sea, and he was turning out for Horsham in 2016 when the county handed him a first-class debut against the Pakistanis.
And five wickets on debut — including Test players Mohammad Hafeez (twice), Azhar Ali and Misbah-ul-Haq — underlined his point. since then, Archer — who has set his sights on qualifying for england, despite having a Bajan mother — has been a sussex regular.
He can bat, too. Archer was one of only two county players, with Kent’s Darren stevens, to take 50 wickets and score more than 500 runs last season — including 21 sixes.