England's talisman in waiting? Is Jofra Archer the next Ben Stokes?

Rajasthan Royals’ head of cricket, Zubin Bharucha, says his side have picked up the Sussex allrounder in preparation for a future without Stokes. But can Archer follow in leaving a lasting mark on world cricket? Our writers have their say…

The simple answer? Rajasthan Royals think he could be. That’s why they have relieved their pockets of £800,000 to secure his services for this year’s IPL.

The Royals’ head of cricket, Zubin Bharucha, says Rajasthan have picked up the Sussex allrounder in preparation for a future without Stokes.

“If we are thinking of a back-up for Ben Stokes in a few years time, we are thinking that could be Jofra Archer,” said Bharucha.

“That’s how we valued him into our squad this year. We were looking at him as a pure death bowler, but with a view that he could potentially become the next Ben Stokes.

“We see that his batting can evolve into something better than just a No.8 or No.9, we think he could end up becoming a No.7 and even No.6 and take on a Ben Stokes role.”

Can Archer follow Stokes in leaving a lasting mark on world cricket? Our writers have their say…

^{Archer claimed 16 wickets for Hobart in BBL|07}

Simon Hughes, editor

The price of a player bought in the IPL is not necessarily a good benchmark of their ability. It is more a factor of the stage in the auction that they were purchased and which franchises were still short in certain categories.

Jaydev Unadkat - bought for $1.8m by Rajasthan Royals - is certainly not the best fast bowler in India. But the judgements of Royals director of cricket - Zubin Bharucha, the former Indian first-class player who has been analysing playerS in the IPL since its inaugural year - are worth listening to. It was Bharucha who bid for Unadkat, realising the precious value of a left-arm seamer good at the death, and who also bought Jofra Archer for £800,000.

He watched Archer in the Big Bash and was impressed by his slippery bowling, athletic fielding and even his lusty hitting at the end of the innings. He went as far as to say that Archer could be the ‘next Ben Stokes’ and that was partly the reason for recruiting him - to cover for and learn from the Royals' star signing.

That might be overstating it rather. Archer is a better bowler than Stokes - deceptive, quicker than you’d expect off his short, easy run up, and very proficient - in the Bash anyway - at nailing his yorker and uprooting stumps. 

He took three wickets for one run (including a run out) in one final over. He took some brilliant return catches too and is, like his friend Chris Jordan, an exceptional fielder. But, despite Zubin’s assertion that ‘Archer could bat at seven or even six and win some matches with the bat’ he could never attain the same commanding presence at the crease as Stokes.

🚨 Half-hour warning 🚨

The #BBL semi-finals get underway with Hobart and Perth.

Expect 🔥🔥🔥 from Jofra Archer...

📺 BT Sport 2 HD
🕣 8.30ampic.twitter.com/Dgjpo3r3kv

— Cricket on BT Sport (@btsportcricket) February 1, 2018

^{Barbados-born Archer will qualify for England in 2022}

He has an impressive first-class batting average of 37 - including six fifties in 28 innings - but has been batting at No.10 for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League.

He has an uncomplicated method and hits a long ball, but it is tough for a guy who is primarily a fast bowler to have the energy to pay much serious attention to batting.

There is no doubt great potential for some influential all-round performances by Archer, but comparing anyone with Stokes could have the same debilitating outcome as all those nineties all-rounders who were cast as ‘the new Botham.’ 

James Coyne, assistant editor

The year 2020 looks more and more like Year Zero for English cricket – with the arrival of the new T20 competition which the ECB believe will safeguard the game for generations. Or, as Jos Buttler fears, Test cricket could go the way of the dodo…

The other big date being bandied around these days is 2022, when Jofra Archer will complete his England qualification. He has time on his side – just. He will be 27 that year.

Archer says his dream is to play Test cricket, and we should take him at his word. He says he will enjoy T20 in the meantime, and that the next four years will be a decent test of his physique and ability.

^{Could we see Archer alongside Stokes in the England Test XI?}

It will always be easier for quick bowlers to preserve their figure – if not their figures – by specialising in white-ball cricket, as we have seen with the choices made by Tymal Mills and Liam Plunkett in recent times.

Hopefully it helps Archer that his bowling action is a thing of graceful beauty, one of the most sumptuous since Michael Holding. But even Holding had his injuries, and having a lovely action did not do Neil Foster’s back much favours, come to think of it… Both of those two bowled more overs in a year that Archer is doing now.

Many of us who love Caribbean cricket wish in our heart of hearts that Archer was running in to bowl for West Indies in 2018 – frankly, their need is greater than England’s. But you cannot blame Archer for making the career choice he feels best for him. He is only responding to the cricketing landscape – and it does seem barmy that West Indies left him out of their squad for the 2016 Under-19 World Cup.

So it looks like he will play for England. Whether or not he goes on to have a meaningful Test career will be a decent yardstick of where the longest form of the game is heading.

^{The Sussex allrounder took 61 Championship wickets last summer}

Nasser Hussain, monthly columnist

He is the model modern cricketer. A three-dimensional player, an athlete, great death bowler, hits it hard.

His case is a real testing ground for cricket, and which direction it is going to travel – do youngsters want to be Archer, or Alastair Cook, the Test legend. 

Owen Riley, social media manager

On pure aesthetics, unless Archer drastically changes his physique and cricketing style, he will not become a Ben Stokes duplicate.

Stokes regularly cuts a figure of snarling brawn and bravado, storming to the crease on a sea of sweat and fire. Archer’s approach is smooth and rhythmic, floating through his approach like a water boatman skimming effortlessly across a placid lake.

While Stokes roars through match-winning spells and thundering knocks like a muscle car forged from the coals of Detroit, Archer glides along the cricketing road. He is a softly spoken, lithe, elastic stretch of a cricketer but no less box-office.

He burst onto the global stage this winter by displaying his all-round match-winning ability for Hobart in the Big Bash, earning himself a bumper IPL deal.

Jofra Archer has won the Big Bash. #BBL07 pic.twitter.com/Ss5lXTv9x9

— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) January 20, 2018

^{Like Stokes, Archer is a gun fielder}

For purposes of comparison this year’s IPL will provide us with a handy starting point, with the two allrounders playing side by side in the blue of Rajasthan.

England will have to wait until 2022 to see if Archer's talents will transfer to the Test arena. He took 61 wickets at 25.30 and scored 638 runs at 45.57 in the County Championship for Sussex last summer. The early signs are good.

Sports hacks love comparisons, crunching the numbers and crossing complex barriers of time and technology in a bid to define a sport's one true greatest individual.

Stokes and Botham, Smith and Bradman, Archer and Stokes… the latter doesn’t cross eras but the end result could have major implications for England.  

Is Ben Stokes the next Ian Botham? Is Jofra Archer the next Ben Stokes? You decide, but I can’t wait to see ‘the next Jofra Archer’.