Chris Jordan brings much-needed sense of enjoyment to England set-up

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2014/may/23/chris-jordan-england-sri-lanka

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Chris Jordan does not look quite so imposing off the field as he was against the Sri Lankans on Thursday night at the Oval. There, having thrashed 38 from 13 balls at the end of England’s innings he proceeded to pummel the lower order with a cascade of well-directed short deliveries and the tourists clearly didn’t enjoy that much. Jordan was hostile; behind the stumps Jos Buttler was constantly taking the ball in front of his eyes.

An hour later, and after England had wrapped up an 81-run victory over Sri Lanka on a storm-interrupted day in south London, he was decidedly bashful in Surrey’s familiar indoor school. Jordan sat on a plastic chair waiting to be interviewed while the England captain was singing his praises – “he flew in and bowled quickly”, said Alastair Cook – and England’s new paceman could not quite hide a proud, sheepish smile. Then with a soft Bajan lilt that has happily not been erased by his time at Dulwich College, the Oval or Brighton, he responded – not dishonestly but barely credibly – to the inevitable question. Jordan has yet to play Test cricket, but the Lord’s Test is around the corner, and surely he was now assessing his chances of playing.

“To be honest, I’m not thinking about that in the slightest at the minute,” he said. “I’m just taking every day as it comes. We have four more games in this series and, if I bowl well in those, then we’ll see where I get to after that.”

He thought a little more before coming a little closer to the truth. “I’m a very ambitious player and do want bigger and better things. If I put in some good one-day performances and get a Test call-up, then I’ll be more than grateful and I’ll try to keep building on that. Success in the short-term is winning games for England and contributing to those wins.”

Currently he displays an innocent pleasure in playing for England, of the kind which has seldom been apparent recently. “I try to enjoy myself and have fun on the pitch every time I go out there because you never know if it could be your last game. I try to leave everything on the pitch every time I play.

“I’m really enjoying every minute of international cricket at this point. Hopefully, that may continue.”

It has all happened very quickly. Jordan now looks a natural international cricketer yet at the end of 2012 Surrey dispensed with his services. Chris Adams, currently working with the Sri Lankans but the erstwhile director of cricket at the Oval, must find it tricky to explain to the tourists how that came about. But Jordan prefers to concentrate on the plusses of pastures new.

“When I was released by Surrey, I spoke to a few counties before deciding to sign for Sussex. The family environment down there has been a real key part of my development. They made me feel really welcome and at home and that helped me hit the ground running when I got there. So I’ve really enjoyed the move so far. Even though Surrey released me, I was still in a good place mentally. I felt as though my game was still improving, I was doing well in the nets and I was getting my body nice and strong. If I’d been in a bad place mentally, I would not have started as I did at Sussex.”

However he is keen not to blame Surrey. “I put it down to myself. I don’t think I performed as well as I could. But that’s life. If you dwell on it, you don’t move forward. Draw a line under it and try to move on to bigger and better things, which I think I’ve done.” Everyone now agrees that he has certainly done that.

There will be wayward days and exasperating ones ahead; Jordan is still learning but we have discovered that he can hold his own at the highest level, with the 25-year-old presented with an immediate chance to shine again in England’s second ODI against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street on Sunday. Even better we can see how much he enjoys it. In the current climate that counts for a lot.