England limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan will resume his international duties when he leads his side in a short limited-overs tour of South Africa. The Englishmen will square off in three ODIs and as many T20Is, the first of which begins in Cape Town on Friday. While Eoin Morgan is pleased to have a gifted paceman in Jofra Archer, he admits the team might not have him around as often.
Jofra Archer, who made his international debut in May 2019, has laid waste to oppositions in all three formats so far. The 25-year old was part of Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2020 and carried the team’s bowling attack single-handedly. Despite the franchise finishing at the bottom of the points table, Archer bagged the player of the tournament award. In 14 matches, he took 20 wickets at 18.25 while maintaining an economy rate of 6.56.
With his workload in IPL and the English summer, the selectors also decided to rest Jofra Archer for the ODI series in South Africa. The likes of Ben Stokes and Sam Curran have also earned the rest; however, all three have been named in the T20I squad as they look to fine-tune their best eleven ahead of next year’s World Cup. English cricket is also blessed in this regard, having a plethora of competent cricketers across departments. Despite missing three key players in the ODI squad, they could end up winning the ODI series.
One of our challenges is just trying to get him into a headspace: Eoin Morgan
Eoin Morgan hailed Jofra Archer as the best in the world and was impressed with his IPL 2020 performances. However, with the ongoing challenges of staying in bio-secure bubbles and without families for long periods, the World Cup-winning skipper admits the team might not have him around as often. Morgan highlighted that their most significant challenge at present is to have him in the right mindset where he is enjoying cricket and keeps giving his best while being there with them.
“He is one of the best in the world, coming back after winning the MVP back in IPL 2020, so he is incredible to have around. But I don’t think we will have him that often in between now and the World Cup. I think it is too much of a challenge for guys playing all three formats at the moment given that we don’t know circumstances of getting in and out of bubbles, getting home or getting family on tour with you. One of our challenges is just trying to get him into a headspace where he is enjoying his cricket while he is with us and make the opportunities while he is with us,” Morgan told ESPN Cricinfo.
