Jofra Archer’s imminent World Cup audition will have no impact on England’s team unity, according to national selector Ed Smith.
Archer, who only qualified under revised residency rules last month, was absent from the provisional 15-man squad named by Smith at Lord’s on Wednesday but both he and fellow Barbados-born seamer Chris Jordan have been handed the chance to gatecrash the tournament.
The pair have been selected for the standalone match against Ireland on May 3 as well as six white-ball games against Pakistan. England will only confirm their final World Cup party once those are completed, meaning one of the existing group could find themselves jettisoned at the 11th hour.
The possibility of disrupting a unit that has risen to world number one status in 50-over cricket has been raised by a handful of Archer’s new team-mates, including David Willey, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes.
None have queried the 24-year-old’s pedigree and are understood to be surprised at the way some of their comments have been received, but there is no doubt the last-ditch arrival of Archer, a genuine 90mph paceman with a glittering Twenty20 resume, has complicated an otherwise straightforward selection.
Smith, though, is confident there will be no rocking of the boat between now and the curtain-raiser against South Africa on May 30.
