Jordan aims to rock Sri Lanka with pace

ALL-ROUNDER Chris Jordan may be a nippy seamer, hardhitting No 8 and slip fielder, but he is also the embodiment of England’s future and an oblique reminder of their past.

Jordan, who is set to win his first Test cap against Sri Lanka at Lord’s on Thursday, was born in Barbados in 1988 — the summer in which two of his heroes, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, took 34 wickets as West Indies beat England 4-0.

Now the player, who was welcomed to English cricket when he won a scholarship to Dulwich College in 2006, will be given the chance to dish out Caribbean-style chin music against batsmen reared on the soporific pitches of Asia.

On the two paciest pitches in the recent one-day series, which Sri Lanka won 3-2, Jordan claimed 3-25 at The Oval and 5-29 at Old Trafford. England won both games and Jordan is more than happy to repeat the dose in the two-Test series at Lord’s and Headingley.

‘If the bounce is there to exploit, we’ll try to do so,’ he said.

Jordan’s performance at The Oval earned him an earful in the next game at Chester-le-Street, where England were skittled for 99. ‘As I came out to bat, I got surrounded and there was a bit of chat,’ he said. ‘But that stuff doesn’t faze me.’

Aged only 25, Jordan already has a self-sufficient streak.

When Bill Athey, the former England opener who lured him to Dulwich, came calling, the teenage Jordan’s response was to look up the school on the web. He was impressed.

‘I was always ambitious and open-minded,’ he said. ‘I relished the opportunity to further my game.’ Sussex signed him ahead of the 2013 season and he has never looked back.