England captain Eoin Morgan on Monday said Jofra Archer has proved to be an ‘X-factor’ in his short career so far but insisted that the best of the tearaway pacer is yet to come.
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.
And, Morgan was full of praise for the 24-year-old fast bowler, stating that Archer managed to overcome every obstacle that was thrown on him to make his name in world cricket.
“I think it is fantastic. Jofra 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,” Morgan said.
“Every obstacle that is being put in front of him, he overcame that. We haven’t seen the best of him, he still wants to learn all the time.”
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 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,” he said.
Morgan said that England have now set their sights on next year’s World Twenty20 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.
“Realistically we do (stand a chance of winning). We came to India in 2016 and made it to the final. We had 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.
Asked whether they would create another such template for the World T20, Morgan answered in the affirmative.
“It will be very similar because we have some exceptional T20 players and we will try to get them in the best possible position in our team and need to find out how it looks like,” he said.
“Over the last two years in particular, we have always seen T20 cricket as an opportunity to give young guys a game simply because our main focus has been the 50-over World Cup.
“Our strategy will change in the new year towards the (T20) World Cup. It is been long summer for some of us and some need rest. I think, in the immediate future, we might experiment a little bit. But next year, we will definitely be working towards building a strong team.”
