England’s limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan has on Wednesday, 27 March, made it clear that the Barbados-born pace sensation Jofra Archer will be given opportunity to push his claims for a World Cup 2019 spot in the upcoming May’s five-match One Day International series against Pakistan.

Speaking to media at an ICC event in Manchester, Morgan has revealed that Head coach Trevor Bayliss was also in favor to test Archer during Pakistan series, as England will announce the squad for the upcoming 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup after this ODI series.

Having qualified to play for England earlier this March, Jofra has already become a household name with his appearance in various T20 leagues around the globe and is currently in India for the IPL 2019, which forced the national team management to think about him for the World Cup 2019.

The captain further said that the hype about Jofra and his show given him the warranty to be in the national ODI squad before England pick squad for the World Cup 2019.

Morgan told media on Wednesday, “It’s not about a winning formula. That is behind us almost and we need to continue using the confidence we have earned to drive things forward and if it is about including someone that’s going to add value then we’ll do it.”

He added, “The hype about Jofra playing around the world and doing well and attracting a lot of attention is justified as he has put in performances that warrant looking at. Bayliss said after the West Indies series we will look at him against Pakistan and that’s what we will do. We don’t have to name our (World Cup) squad until the end of the Pakistan series, so we’ll have a look and see how he goes.”

Meanwhile, England has tremendously turned their fortunes around in the white-ball cricket since their humiliating ouster from the 2015 World Cup, as they are now the top-ranked side in the format, having been unbeaten in their last 10 ODI series to be favorites to win the World Cup at home this time.

The captain noted, “You can’t ignore it but we’ve prepared for going into the World Cup as favorites. It’s something which sits absolutely fine with us. The reason it is there is because of the success we’ve had in the past but that’s all in the past now and our focus needs to be on what’s to come and the things we need to do.”

While England as hosts with favorites tag would be under some pressure in the prestigious 50-over event, but Morgan denied that, saying they are more excited about the "huge opportunity".

Morgan signed off by saying, “There are no nerves, I think it’s more excitement. There’s a huge opportunity for us to go and continue playing the cricket we have done over the last three and a half years off the back of a challenging tour to the West Indies where we were tested in every department.

I think, sitting here right now, we’re equipped really well. We still have one game in Dublin against Ireland and our games at home against Pakistan in the build-up to the World Cup so there’s plenty of cricket to be played but all the focus is going to be on the competition.”

(With AFP Inputs)