Jofra Archer’s episode of homecoming far from home

Jofra Archer’s episode of homecoming far from home

Aakash Sivasubramaniam

By Aakash Sivasubramaniam, SportsCafe Editor

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There is always this pertinent notion from the cricket fans that Jofra Archer slipped through the hands of the West Indies cricketing board, and found himself across the English channel. However, seldom as it seems, this is not exactly how the story played out, with Archer ready for a battle.

The story, his past in Windies colours and a trial for a place in the West Indian ‘Theatre of Dreams’ all started in 2014, when an 18-year-old pacer from Barbados set foot on the trialling ground. In January 2014, the selectors from across the Caribbean Island set sail for a 15-man U-19 squad that would represent their team in the next edition of the World Cup. While they were pretty much sure in terms of selecting the right choice of batsmen, it was the bowlers’ section which gave them a pleasant headache. 

Having burst onto the scene in 2011, a young Jofra Archer’s impact sent a shockwave across the different Caribbean islands. His pace, raw skills and on top of that, his aggression all made him look like an alien in that generation of pacers. There was, however, one thing that prevented all the applause and recognition, it was the fact that was only well-known in Barbados Island after he turned 16. He had all the elements of the legendary Windies pace attack - pace, agility and moreso, creating the element of fear and danger in batsmen’s head. 

Due to his relatively late arrival onto the scene, he missed out on a selection for Barbados in the West Indies regional U-19 tournament. Brilliantly, Tim Wigmore in his special report pointed out how Dexter Toppin, the Barbados U-19 coach was impressed with Archer’s rattling pace, reaching 85mph before he turned 18. In any other country, this merit, on the back of the country’s history with the pacers should have made him an obvious generational talent, with media reports all over the country. However, this was West Indies and they saw these kinds of pacers every other day, on the street, in the ground and where not. An influx of pacers, especially ones who could do justice on the slow and dry wickets at the UAE made their way up the ranks, as the 18-year-old Archer found himself in a loop. 

When his chance popped up in front of them, bowling on the dry and plodding tracks at Guyana in preparation for the global event in UAE, he could not grasp it with both his hands. Throughout the trials, all he could manage was a return with a sorry figure of 3-118 after having hurled 120 thunderbolts at ground-type batsmen. As they say in Pokemon, it was not very effective, which saw a premature end to Archer’s Windies hopes. They were never-going-be-kindled after, with a left-arm pacer Preston McSween being favoured over Archer, purely because of his consistency in the trials. Had it been any other bowler in the Caribbean channel, the name of the pacer would have gone relatively out of the reckoning but this was no ordinary pacer. 

Packing his bags, an 18-year-old pacer travelled across the Atlantic, away from home, to find himself the right platform. As easy as said, it was not going to be that way for Archer, who was rejected in a country that was a breeding ground for pacers. One game, against Bangladesh, was what cost him a stay back at home and after plenty of lessons learnt, he was sure of not repeating the darn ol’ mistakes.

Archer's England homecoming

Unlike his emergence in the Caribbean, where he was unnoticed, Archer’s England dreams were boosted with the incoming news. Several English clubs were waiting patiently to lay their hands on the talent, in a never-seen-before-avatar for English cricket. Since Andrew ‘Freddy’ Flintoff had walked the talk, there was no pacer in the country who could reach the 90mph legacy left by the Preston all-rounder. After being ignored dearly by the Windies board, Archer through his ‘unknowing’ trials against Northamptonshire had found himself a flight to England. 

"I was angry with the West Indies, so that helped me with my decision to come and try to play for England," Archer later said. Well, this statement was rather very self-explanatory, Archer wanted to play cricket and he chose to play it for them, who valued him the most. Northamptonshire, who caught the first glimpse of the rising star, quickly decided to sign him up but the pacer was keen to wait. He had set his sights on becoming one of the best pacers, so he was never going to accept the first offer on the train. Later, came in Sussex, all thanks to the Caribbean connection in the form of Chris Jordan, who was already an English star by then. In just a conversation, he convinced Archer to make the move and the rest is history, with his stead-fast rise to the top of the English bowling charts. 

As they say in history, not every cricketer, in this instance pacer can play for the West Indies in their historical Maroon jersey. The Barbados-born cricketer’s life panned out in such a way that he had to replace his Maroon jersey, that he donned during his U-19 days, with a blue jersey that somewhere said, ‘sky is the limit’ for Archer. Since his England days took off against Ireland, there has been literally nothing that has stopped him, oh well, for the exception of injuries of course, which has been England’s fault. 

However, he is back, after a dozen of injuries that have plagued his celebrations post the 2019 World Cup. Be it bowling the super over on injection or be it being handed the debut to handle the Australian duo of Steve Smith and David Warner, he has done it all. One thing that has slipped from his wish list thus far is welcoming Windies in an episode of homecoming far from home for the pacer. For the first time since his move away, he would be aiming to prove how costly of a miss it is to Windies cricket when the two sides face each other in the First Test. 

Post his comeback from an injury that he suffered against South Africa, the 25-year-old has the opportunity yet again to remind the Windies board of the ‘one that got away.’ Additionally, he also would have an opportunity to showcase his version 2.0 after returning back to full fitness, with an ability to put the selectors in a bite-back position for all their comments but his friendship with the Windies stars has been intact. 

Roddy Estwick, who was a former coach of the Windies pacer Archer commented before the game, “Jofra is Bajan by birth but he made a choice to represent England. I’m happy for him, but the friendship ends once we walk on that park and Jofra knows that. When you lose a player of that talent you have some tinge of regret but you can’t hold that regret for the rest of your life, you have got to look forward,” Bajan by birth, English by choice, a Jofra Archer story is ready to be written somewhere, sometime in the future.

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