Jofra Archer appears to be the best fast bowling prospect in England. He is also one of the world's best fielders, and a batsman with a first-class average of 37. Having last represented the West Indies Under-19s in
October 2013, he was eligible for England selection a few weeks prior to
this game where Jake Ball played instead. However, England have not selected him because of their own rule which states seven years, not four, as the qualifying period to wear a shirt with three lions on it. This is quite a new rule, and one which were it applied earlier on would have robbed the England side of
Craig Kieswetter's World Twenty20 heroics, or
Kevin Pietersen's Ashes heroics or
Andy Caddick's fighting spells in the West Indies. If the risk of losing out on a talent who must surely have attracted the attention of the West Indies selectors by now is what it takes for the ECB to realise that this attempt at a crowd-pleasing rule threatens to backfire spectacularly, then so be it.
Pick the best team available, England. Please.
How healthy would the seam-bowling reserves suddenly look with
Anderson,
Archer,
Broad,
Roland-Jones,
Stokes and
Woakes all vying for selection?