I got dropped and no one looked out for me, Jofra Archer recalls West Indies snub in his teenage days

Jofra Archer has been living a dream over the past couple of months. His England qualification was fast-tracked for him to be able to play in the World Cup and the Caribbean born cricketer delivered for them in the super over of the final. His heroics has also earned him a place in England’s Ashes squad now and it seems that the fast bowler will be part of the team across all the formats now.

However, all was not well for Jofra Archer during his teenage days when he was dropped from the West Indies squad for the U19 World Cup in 2014. Who would’ve thought then, that the same guy will win the World Cup for England after five years? But the way he was sidelined by the selectors from the U19 had disappointed the cricketer which is why he moved to England to play for Sussex in 2016.

“I was left out of the Under 19 World Cup in 2014 and then I got injured shortly after. There was never really a chance of playing for the senior West Indies team. I got dropped and no-one looked out for me,” Jofra Archer said while speaking to the Daily Mail.

Chris Jordan helped Jofra Archer

Like Jofra Archer, even Chris Jordan, the Caribbean cricketer, had moved to England a few years ago. The duo met each other and that is when Archer asked Jordan if he can move to England like him. Looking at his bowling, Jordan talked to the then Sussex coach Mark Robinson who was instantly impressed with Archer’s bowling which changed his life completely.

“I bumped into Chris Jordan a few weeks later when he was in Barbados. We trained together and I ended up bowling to him and we got talking. I told him I had a British passport and asked if there was anything he could do for me in England.

“He spoke to Mark Robinson at Sussex and they wanted to have a look at me. At first the injury was still affecting me and I went back home before I came back to play club cricket in England as a batter. I still trained with Sussex and the physios helped me until my back healed and I was able to play second-team cricket,” Archer further added.