GROS ISLET, St Lucia, CMC – Exciting all-rounder Jofra Archer will be given a chance to make England’s World Cup squad following the touring side’s sub-par performance against the West Indies in the just concluded One Day International series.
That sentiment was echoed by England’s coach Trevor Bayliss at the end of the ODI series which saw top-ranked England having to settle with a 2-2 draw against the Windies.
Bayliss described England’s performance in the last ODI which they lost by seven wickets after being skittled out for 113 as “embarrassing”.
After months of speculation, the England coach admitted Archer would get his chance in the one-off ODI against Ireland in Dublin on May 3 and the five-match series against Pakistan that follows.
“Jofra Archer’s name keeps cropping up and I think at some stage we will give him an opportunity. Those matches against Pakistan and Ireland, I think he will get an opportunity to show us what he can do. I haven’t spoken to him, but he’s said publicly he’s keen,” Bayliss said.
Archer will not be included in England’s initial 15-man World Cup squad to be named in April. But with teams allowed to make unlimited changes before the final deadline of 22 May, he will have six matches to state his case for inclusion.
“It is 23 April when we’ve got to name the squad, but we’ve got another month or so when we can change the team,” Bayliss added.
The 23-year-old Archer was born in Barbados but holds a British passport. He has benefited from the recent reduction of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s residency qualification period from seven years to three.
It means he will be available to play for England on March 17 having spent the required 210 days in the UK over the past 12 months.
The case for Archer’s inclusion is compelling even if he has played only 14 List A matches.
He made his breakthrough in Twenty20 cricket playing for Hobart Hurricanes in the 2018 Big Bash League in Australia, but he has impressed for Sussex, too, in the T20 Blast, guiding the county to finals day last summer in a campaign during which he took a hat-trick against Middlesex, that included the wicket of England’s ODI captain, Eoin Morgan.
