Jofra Archer: Meet England’s Cricket World Cup star who dabbles with Raheem Sterling

With the past 18 months Jofra Archer has had, it would be understandable if he was getting carried away.

But his humble beginnings has his feet firmly rooted.

Born in Barbados, Archer initially wanted to be a long-jumper. Now his remarkable leap forward means he’s hanging out with Raheem Sterling and David de Gea.

Archer has been selected for England’s World Cup squad – despite only playing three one-day internationals – ahead of David Willey.

Tellingly, instead of being a controversial decision from the ECB, the decision to pick Archer has been roundly praised, including from former England captain Nasser Hussain.

“They’ve made the right call in having Archer in that squad,” Hussain told Sky Sports News.

“Absolutely; 100 per cent. He had to play. He is such a rare talent, a game-changer, a wicket-taker.”

Archer only qualified to play for England on January 1 2019 after the ECB changed their eligibility laws to allow overseas cricketers to play for England after living in the country for three years rather than seven years.

Archer was raised in Barbados and has played for West Indies Under-19s three times but has an English father and a British passport.

But before the 2017-18 Big Bash League, most of the cricketing world probably had never heard of Jofra Archer.

Having finished as the leading wicket-taker in the 2017 County Championship Division Two with Sussex, Archer was a late call-up to the Hobart Hurricanes in Australia’s Big Bash League 2018 – as a replacement for Tom Curran who was called up to England’s Ashes squad.

Whilst many might have been scratching their heads about Archer, Sussex director of cricket Keith Greenfield predicted great things from the fast-bowler.

“He can be world-class, there is no doubt about that,” Greenfield said in 2017.

“Everyone currently sees his bowling potential but he is a gifted mover. His fielding can keep getting better, he is very handy with bat but no one has seen that massively yet.”

And Archer didn’t disappoint. In his debut for the Hurricans, he bowled a double-wicket maiden against the Melbourne Renegades and his mix of yorkers and bouncers – one ball clocked at 94mph – left him with 16 wickets in 12 games.

Even South African fast-bowler Dale Steyn – one of the best in the business – heaped praise on Archer.

Off the back of his BBL performances, Archer was snapped up for £800,000 by Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals, and took 15 wickets in 10 games in his debut season.

He took a further 18 wickets in the 2019 BBL and 11 wickets in the 2019 IPL before being called up to the England squad for one-day games against Pakistan and Ireland.

Upon his selection, national selector Ed Smith expressed his excitement to be able to include Archer in the squad.

“The selection panel has been impressed with Jofra Archer’s performances in domestic and franchise cricket,” Smith said.

“He is a very talented and exciting cricketer.”

In his three ODIs for England, Archer has figures of 3/108, but it his dynamism that has fans and selectors purring.

Able to bowl at 90mph consistently and capable of performing extraordinary things in the field, Archer’s addition to the squad gives the number one ranked ODI team an added dimension.

Due to his previous inability to be selected for England, Archer gained a huge amount of cricketing experience playing abroad against the biggest names.

And he believes this experience will stand him in good stead when he plays during the World Cup.

“Yeah, I think I probably have a bigger advantage over some of the other guys in our team,” he told Sky Sports News.

“We play them twice a year in the IPL so you know their weaknesses, you know their strengths, you know if they can’t run between the wickets – you get an extra bit of inside information.

“To be honest, [international cricket] is probably the same intensity as the IPL, the only thing that has changed is the amount of overs. But ever since I’ve started it’s been really intense. It’s different but it still isn’t [too] different.”

And although his cool character means he’s often not in the limelight, Archer’s explosive cricketing style could see him being the face of Adidas in no time at all.