I like what I’ve seen, but Jofra isn’t a shoo-in

JOFRA ARCHER was impressive on his Twenty20 international debut for england yesterday, but I still think it’s a case of wait and see before we rush him into the World Cup squad.

This is only the second time I have watched Archer live, after the domestic Twenty20 finals day last year, and I do like what I see.

I also firmly believe if england have the chance to make their World Cup squad better with Archer’s inclusion, then they must take it. This is no time to worry about who will miss out and how unfair it might be on an unlucky bowler.

As we saw in the last World Cup, when New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum would often keep three slips in, the way to win one- day games with the ball these days is to take wickets in the middle overs rather than just try to restrict a modern batting line-up.

Archer has it in him to do that, such as producing that bouncer yesterday to dismiss Imam-ul-Haq, and he has the knack of finding a way to take a wicket. He is also, as we saw when he came to speak to us in the Sky pod, a very chilled and laid-back character who seems to be taking all the fuss about him in his stride.

So, while there is a lot to like, I still want to see him a bit more, particularly in the 50-over format in which Archer had played only 15 ‘List A’ games before his england call-up. Twenty20 cricket is Archer’s bread and butter, and, like his great friend Chris Jordan, he has plenty of variations. We have already seen his yorker take a wicket against Ireland and his bouncer and off-cutter struck yesterday.

But what Jordan has struggled with in the longer game is that line and length stock delivery at the top of off stump, which every bowler needs to take wickets. And I want to see Archer play in all five 50- over games against Pakistan to see if he can do more of that.

I would rotate the other bowlers in the five games and I also want to see more of Archer alongside Liam Plunkett who, for the last four years, has been the go-to bowler for eoin Morgan in those middle overs with his own back- of- a- length bowling.

Archer would have to replace a seam bowler in the World Cup squad. It would be a fudge to bring him in, say, for Joe Denly because that would lead to an unbalanced squad.

england must be careful with Denly. They have to decide what specific role he would have in the squad rather than consider him something of a bits and pieces cricketer who can fill in for a spinner or one of the batsmen if they are injured at the last minute.

Denly might be good enough to be england’s third spinner, but if Adil rashid had to pull out on the morning of a game, I would rather have Liam Dawson available because he is good enough to be a second spin option. At least Denly, who bats in the top three for Kent in Twenty20 cricket, did himself a power of good in a different finishing role alongside Morgan in england’s win in Cardiff.