GO FOR JOFRA!
Picking Pietersen 14 years ago was a masterstroke, England must be bold again for the World Cup and…
ENGLAND are in such a good position as the World Cup approaches that we are scratching our heads wondering who will miss out if Jofra Archer comes into the squad rather than scratching around at the last minute for players good enough to compete.
Captain Eoin Morgan, his team and the coaches have done most things right over the last four years and now they have to select well before they take on South Africa on May 30 to start a home World Cup.
I have heard all the debate about whether the late introduction of Archer will damage team spirit but, if you have a chance to make your World Cup squad better, you must grab it even if it means someone who got you there in the first place misses out.
And I am not worried about England’s existing bowlers, like David Willey, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes, making apparently critical comments about the prospect of Archer joining them.
It was understandable they were sticking up for their team-mates when asked but, if you read what all of them said in full, they acknowledged that England must pick their strongest side for a World Cup.
There has certainly been a lot of discussion about a player who has only made 14 ‘List A’ 50-over appearances in his career but when you see Archer bowl at Chris Gayle in the IPL, or bowl at the death the way he does, you can see why there is so much hype.
What we don’t know is how he will cope in international cricket when the pressure is at its most intense, like if he has to bowl at Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni in a World Cup semi-final so early in his career.
All we can say is that he has bowled in pressure situations against big players in the IPL, in front of big crowds when the stakes have been high, and the signs indicate that Archer has the temperament to accompany his cricketing gifts. It looks like he belongs on the big stage.
Death bowling at the World Cup will be crucial and in Woakes and Tom Curran England already have two bowlers who could do the job. But in Archer and Chris Jordan, also included in the extended squad to face Pakistan, they have added two attractive options.
Really, the provisional World Cup 15 that England named last week for administrative reasons is an irrelevance.
In the old days you would pick 30 and cut down to 15, but now they face the prospect of leaving someone out who has been named in a 15. But I think England have done it the right way round by leaving out Archer now rather than putting him straight into the squad even though every indication is that he will be in the eventual 15 unless he mucks up spectacularly against Pakistan.
At least now the three or four players under threat — most likely Curran, Liam Plunkett and Willey — know they will have to put in commanding performances in that fivematch series against Pakistan.
Plunkett is an interesting one. In his last few matches, his pace has been down and I saw him go for 57 runs in his six overs for Surrey against Sussex at Hove on Friday.
But in the last three years he has been the best bowler in the world for the middle overs.
So which Plunkett will turn up against Pakistan? Is this just a blip or is he in decline?
What we must accept is that Archer is still inexperienced and there will be days when his graph goes down as well as up.
In some of the games against Pakistan people may even wonder what all the fuss is about.
I have been working on a documentary on the career of Kevin Pietersen for Sky and there are similarities with KP’s introduction to the England side in 2005.
At the time, the decision was between him and one of England’s great batsmen of that era, Graham Thorpe, for the Ashes and history tells us the selectors did the right thing in going for the newcomer.
Archer is no Pietersen just yet but he has that X-factor which could make all the difference.
It just gives the England squad that bit extra and, even though whoever misses out will feel hard done by, selection for a World Cup should be a cut-throat business.
Let’s see how Jofra gets on when he is under the full media glare of international cricket, but at least it says everything about the strength of this England side that we are talking about the dilemma of who to leave out rather than who we pick.