Mumbai: England limited overs captain Eoin Morgan said Monday that Jofra Archer has proved to be an ‘X-factor’ in his short career so far but insisted that the best of the fast bowler is yet to come. Jofra Archer was rewarded with a central contract for Test and white-ball cricket by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) recently for his superb performances in the ODI World Cup and the Ashes.
“I think it is fantastic. Jofra (Archer) is very exciting to watch and he bowls fast and has an X-factor. He can bowl in any format of the game and any circumstances and to any plan,” Eoin Morgan told reporters here Monday.
“Every obstacle that is being put in front of him, he overcomes that. We haven’t seen the best of him, he still wants to learn all the time,” added the England skipper.
Archer was England’s leading wicket-taker in their triumphant World Cup campaign at home. He then followed up his World Cup performance by scalping 22 wickets at an average of 20.27 in the four Ashes Tests against Australia.
Morgan also hailed Ben Stokes’ heroics this summer, terming him as an exceptional cricketer. “Who would have thought after the World Cup final performance that took absolutely everything that he could come up with, on his own and we would win a game (third Ashes Test) at Headingley. The innings exposed every attribute that you need to be a Test match batsman. It was exceptional,” Morgan stated.
Ben Stokes single-handedly guided England to a one-wicket win over Australia in the third Ashes Test at Headingley with a match-winning knock of 135 runs.
Morgan also said that England have now set their sights on next year’s World Twenty20 in Australia after fulfilling their long-cherished dream of winning the ICC ODI World Cup.
“We have 18 T20 International games from between now and then and we will try to build a squad that can potentially win that tournament (World T20),” Morgan told a group of reporters here.
“Realistically we do (stand a chance of winning). We came to India in 2016 and made it to the final. We have a similar squad during the World Cup in England this year. If we can build our momentum and gel together as a side, it will give us the best chance,” added the left-handed batsman.
Morgan said like other teams, from now on their focus is on the World T20. “Next year is pretty simple for me, continue on with both formats of the game (ODI and T20) as captain and the focus turns to Australia T20 World Cup in November next year and all of our energies will be going into that,” pointed out the skipper.
PTI
