The 23-year-old Barbados-born bowling all-rounder Jofra Archer will be eligible to play for England in the upcoming cricket World Cup after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has recently changed the eligibility regulations.
On this Thursday (November 29), the ECB announced that the players need to reside at least three years in England and Wales, who haven’t born here but willing to play for England national cricket team. This rule will be eligible for both men and women’s cricket from January 1, 2019, while the previous rule demands at least seven years residence in England and Wales to be eligible for the national cricket team. The rule has been changed to keep similarity with the ICC’s eligibility criteria for all players.
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The right-arm pacer and right-handed batsman Jofra Archer appeared for West Indies U19 in 2014 and played three matches. However, later he wished to play for his family side England as he has a British father and passport and landed in Britain in 2015.
In earlier eligibility rules, Archer had to wait at least the winter of 2022 but now he is likely to be available for the English cricket team’s selection from next March. While the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales will begin from May 30, it means Archer will be available for the England cricket team to play that tournament.
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After the new eligibility regulation was announced, Archer took his twitter account to give his reaction.
Sharing a post on his early availability, Archer wrote, “It may or may not happen but I would love to debut in front of my family.”
Archer made his first-class debut for Sussex in July 2016 during the three-day warm-up game against Pakistanis (Pakistan tour of England 2016). He finished that game as the highest wicket-taker as he picked up a total of five wickets (4/49 & 1/24).
Soon, he made his List A and T20 debut. He has played 28 first-class games, 14 List A games and 66 T20s where he has scored a total of 1,525 runs (1,003 in first-class, 192 in List A and 330 in T20s) and also has picked up a total of 239 wickets (131 in first-class, 21 in List A and 87 in T20s).
Archer made his IPL debut in this year after Rajasthan Royals bought him in the 2018 IPL Auction for £800,000. Archer finished the tournament as the most wicket-taker for the team by picking up 15 wickets in 10 matches.
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In this August, Archer claimed a hat-trick against Middlesex during the 2018 T20 Blast match.
