“My family actually doesn’t get to travel the world and watch me play a lot of international cricket. So to do it in front of them definitely is right up there”
Chris Jordan had his nephew watching him play: “One day he might be out there trying to do the same thing” • Getty Images
Perhaps because he has been around for longer, Chris Jordan doesn’t quite get remembered as an England cricketer of Bajan origin as Jofra Archer does. The Kensington Oval was where Jordan first saw a cricket match, incidentally between West Indies and England, and fell in love with the game. He vaguely remembers watching it from the old press box. Perhaps he means the stand and not the actual press box.
There is nothing vague about having created a pretty special memory here by taking a hat-trick to end USA’s innings prematurely in a collapse that took out five wickets for no runs, before England eventually won the Super Eight match by ten wickets to seal a semi-final spot. It is naturally special having done it at “home”; those in attendance made it more special for Jordan, because he has never had so many of his family watching him play. It ranks “right up there” with his best days in an England shirt.
“Yeah, it’s a good day,” Jordan said. “I think because my family actually doesn’t get to travel the world and watch me play a lot of international cricket. So to do it in front of them definitely is right up there. And then also in a World Cup, in a game to make sure that we can qualify, it’s definitely up there for sure. Ranks high.”
Who all were there then? “Yeah, everyone. The list goes on. My mum, my dad, my sister, brother-in-law, nephew. My nephew’s the one because he called me this morning and said, ‘Make sure you take three wickets today if you’re playing’. And yeah, so I looked up and he’s jumping up, because one day he might be out there trying to do the same thing. So yeah, you end up trying to be a role model and stuff like that. So yeah, it was a nice day.”
It was fitting then that the England leadership brought Jordan in for a homecoming, along with Archer. After the defeat to Australia, Jordan missed the Oman game, but was brought back for the rain-shortened crunch match against Namibia. Then he missed games against West Indies and South Africa. It can be challenging for a player to not be sure of a place in the starting XI, but Jordan hasn’t let it affect him.
“Not too much of a challenge because I [have] played a lot of cricket now, and I think the communication has been really good from the hierarchy as well,” he said. “I try to control the things that I can control – because even when I’m not playing, I’m trying to be there for guys and help guys with their planning, and make sure that guys are well motivated as well going into the game.
“So we don’t really have too much time to even think about being in and out. All I can do is kind of keep training hard and just keep preparing as [though] I’m going to play every game anyway, whichever way the coin falls on the day. So yeah, not too much of a bother for me.”
Sidharth Monga is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo
