Jofra Archer
Pacer Jofra Archer hopes that opposition teams will be scared when they face England in the men's T20 World Cup in the UAE and Oman.
He also said that England have been successful for so long as the players can dominate at any stage of the match.
"I hope opposition teams are scared when they come up against us over these next few weeks. I hope people are losing sleep at night, thinking, 'jeez, we have got a tough game tomorrow'," wrote Archer in his column for Daily Mail on Thursday.
"Let's face it, we have been successful for so long, top of the world rankings as a result and have players that can dominate on any stage. Yes, myself and Ben Stokes are unavailable, but I'm not worried about that in terms of the way the team will perform," added Archer, who has been ruled out of cricketing action this year due to re-emergence of stress fracture in his right elbow.
Archer also believes that his and Stokes absence can be covered up by the depth in England's T20 World Cup squad. "I know there is enough strength in depth to cover our absence. We saw in the summer that there is so much talent within the England white-ball squads. It was a blessing of the Covid period that we got to see just what people waiting in the wings can do."
The 26-year-old pointed out England's strength, which has led to them becoming a force to reckon in limited-overs cricket. "The strength of this England team is that everyone works with each other. It's the best quality it has. Everyone feeds off each other, and there is a culture of playing for your team-mates rather than yourself. So, although I'm not sure which way they will go in selection, whoever comes in to take the new ball will do well."
Archer was also of the opinion that the IPL 2021 experience of England's players will come handy in the T20 World Cup which will be wide open. "The field is wide open for this tournament. In T20, anything can happen and games can change completely in the space of two or three overs. But lots of England players have IPL experience and conditions in the UAE will be pretty familiar to them. Some of the players have been competing there over the last few weeks and that could count in our favour."
Commenting on the difference in conditions between the UAE and India, Archer said, "One of the biggest differences between playing T20 in India — where the tournament was originally supposed to be held — and in the UAE is the size of the boundaries. In India, there are quite a few small grounds and only Sharjah in the UAE is comparable in terms of dimensions: Dubai and Abu Dhabi are much bigger."
"Dubai pitches don't tend to have much grass on them and it's the same as India in terms of swing. It does a bit in the air and skips through in the first six overs and then that's it. Once out of the power play, it gets a lot easier for the batters. And this England team has proven they are consistently good in all conditions when it comes to T20 cricket," concluded Archer.
