Barbadian swing bowler Christopher Jordan definitely won’t be wearing the maroon West Indies shirt after all, as he has been elevated to the England senior team.
Jordan, 24, who developed his cricket at Combermere School under the guidance of coach Roddy Estwick after spending one year at Queen’s College, was yesterday called up for the first time to represent England in next Tuesday’s one-off One-Day International versus Ireland and the following five-match ODI series against Australia.
He is set to join other Barbadians such as Roland Butcher and fellow Combermerians Gladstone Small and Ricardo Elcock, who have played for England.
Only this year, Jordan represented Barbados in both the regional first class and Super50 competitions before leaving for England to play for Sussex after he was released by his previous county, Surrey, last December.
Prior to his departure, he took 16 wickets in three four-day matches at an average of 15.18, including a career-best seven for 43 against the Combined Campuses and Colleges and also captured eight scalps in three 50-over matches at 12.37 apiece with an economy of 3.68.
Locally, he has represented both the CounterPoint Wanderers and YMPC clubs as well as St James in inter-parish cricket.    Â
With England resting captain Alastair Cook, James Anderson, Ian Bell, Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad, Mark Robinson, the cricket manager at Sussex said it was brilliant news for Jordan to get his first call to a full England side.
“They will be looking at some of the most promising players in the county and Chris is certainly one of those,” Robinson told BBC Sussex.
“He is an explosive cricketer, especially as a bowler. I am sure England will have a look at him and get him among some of the more regular players as they build towards a potential World Cup in 2015,” he said.
Jordan has been a consistent performer for Sussex this season, bagging 51 wickets at an average of 26.58 in the County Championship as well as 11 in YB40 competition at 22.18 and eight in the Friends of Life t20 tournament at 25.12 and an economy of 8.43 with his slippery swing bowling.
His form earned him selection to the England Lions for the three-match series against Bangladesh A last week, when he took five wickets in two appearances at Taunton, including a haul of four for 38.
