'I’ve probably had the best two months of my life': Jofra Archer hails teammates after propelling England to World Cup glory

“They’ve been a really good family to me,” enthused England’s star bowler, Jofra Archer, moments after delivering the Super Over to propel England to World Cup glory. Unlike his bowling, this time Archer stumbled, lost for words as he tried to describe the emotion of winning the Lord’s final. “Oh man. Serious, serious passion. It’s a great team. I can’t imagine such a great bunch of guys to share it with today, really.”

This time last year, the prospect of Jofra Archer winning a World Cup for England seemed possible. The 2023 World Cup, that is. Due to a seven-year qualification period Archer was not eligible, under the ECB’s rules, to have featured for England in 2019. Eoin Morgan, England’s captain, dispelled any conjecture around Archer’s inclusion at the time, confirming that, a year out from this World Cup, even if he had qualified, it was too late for the Barbados-born seamer to be included.

A year on, a change in the rules and a change in heart and Morgan found himself bestowing the ultimate trust in his young charge: to bowl the Super Over in the World Cup Final.

“To be honest, I think that’s why I’m in the team,” responded Archer on whether he was surprised to find himself bowling those decisive six balls. “Because of my death bowling. I think probably everyone in the dressing room was saying, you’ve got this, even before…” Archer stopped, mid-sentence.

“Actually, I don’t even think – Morgs did not even come over to me. I went to him, just to make sure that it was me. Yeh, that was it. I think everyone would have probably tried to push me to do it anyway, even if it wasn’t me. I’m glad that the boys look up to me. That they trust me as well.”

“The skipper really believed in me, even after the six,” said Archer. Archer’s third delivery, or second legitimate one having bowled a wide in the first ball of the Super Over, was pulled for six leaving New Zealand requiring just seven off the last four balls. “A lot of captains could have been hands in head, and head down and pacing all over the place. But he was really calm, really understanding.”

This of the captain of a team that only months ago had rumours swirling around the imminent inclusion of Archer. There were reports of players feeling threatened, or at the very least unsure of whether a new addition, so late in proceedings, would be the best thing for England, regardless of how good they may be.

“It's a great bunch of fellas, especially [Ben Stokes] trying to calm me down before I bowled,” explained Archer, of the moments before that over.

“I thought it was going fine…” Archer pauses. “Until the six.”

“And that’s when Stokesy told me, even before the over, ‘Win or lose, today does not define you.’ So that everyone believes in me. [Joe] Rooty came up to me and said some inspirational words as well. I knew that even if we did lose, it was not the end of the world.”

Archer is a man at ease with his lot but, like his captain, acutely aware of what his inclusion, as a black man from the Caribbean, means for a sport still struggling to engage those beyond the confines of the white, middle-class, public-school educated demographic.

“I hope so,” responded Archer, to whether the win might help attract a broader audience. “England is multi-cultural. I don’t, we don’t, especially me, we don’t choose where I was born to be honest. All I knew was that my dad lived here and was born here and that, I had an opportunity really. There are going to be a lot of kids!

“Even [Adil] Rash[id] and Mo[een Ali], obviously they are probably not in the same situation as me, but they helped the team in ways you don’t even know. They bat spin better than most of the guys. I think, because of everyone’s background, everyone pretty much has a special role in the team.”

“I think I’ve probably had the best two months of my life, so far,” revealed Archer who, even last year, before he knew he might qualify so soon, had reiterated that playing for England was his dream. “Making my [England] debut. Making my World Cup debut. Playing in a World Cup, all within two months, it’s special. Really, really special to me.

“And hopefully I can look back. Ten years, 15 years, longer than that, and say that I was a part of that.”