Chris Jordan: 'I want to play in all formats'

HUW TURBERVILL sat down with Chris Jordan, who was in genial mood as he told the story of his winter

How was the Bangladesh Premier League?

Decent. It actually got cut short because I injured my ankle, and I needed 10 days of rehab…

Once recovered, you played in the T10 in Sharjah… how was that?

It was different! When the first game was played, everybody wanted to see how everyone would play, how people would go about it, and I think the first team that played got 80 or 90 odd, and they thought they actually did well. The pitch was so good, though, and they didn’t go hard enough, early enough, and so after that even when teams were losing two wickets in the first over and stuff, they didn’t stop, they were just going, going, going the whole time, and average scores were 125, 130. And as a bowler if you bowled your two overs for like 18–20 runs you actually did a pretty good job. 

Did you look at it as if you were bowling the last two overs of a T20 game?

Yeah basically, although there are still four overs of Powerplay, which is quite a lot in such a short game. You have to use a lot of gut feeling and do a lot of double bluffing, because the pitch was so good, and the ground was so small, the players were good… Look as if you are going to bowl a bouncer, and then bowl a yorker, or vice-versa. Field settings … you just have to be as unpredictable as possible…

^{Jordan in action for Sussex}

Like putting a fielder out for the hook then bowling a yorker?

Yes so you would have third man and fine-leg up, and then bowl a bouncer, because when you have that field, more often or not you wouldn’t try a bouncer. Different things you do to try to be clever. I think bowlers will be at a premium in that format. It’s hard to take six wickets in that format,  let alone 10 or 20…

That is interesting – white-ball bowlers are often depicted as cannon fodder?

For T20 bowlers, I think bowlers will be at a premium…

Will that format endure?

To be honest I quite enjoyed it. A lot of people were like, yes there was a little bit of carnage, and it was not a bowlers’ game, but I flip things around, and I think if I come on and bowl at people trying to hit me out of the park, and I am keeping them quiet and not going for runs and taking wickets, then I look at that as a positive.

Career stats

Age: 29

Major teams: England, Surrey, Barbados, Sussex, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Adelaide Strikers, Peshawar Zalmi, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Surma Sixers Sylhet

Tests: 8 matches, 180 runs at 18.00, HS 35* v Sri Lanka at Lord’s (2014). 21 wkts at 35.80, BB 4-18 v India at The Oval (2014)

ODIs: 31 matches, 169 runs at 12.07, HS 38 v Sri Lanka at The Oval (2013/14). 43 wkts at 35.37, BB 5-29 v Sri Lanka at Manchester (2014)

T20Is: 30 matches, 163 runs at 14.81, HS 27* v West Indies (2013/14). 34 wkts at 27.88, BB 4-28 v Sri Lanka at Delhi (2015/16)

First-class: 94 matches, 2,700 runs at 25.00, HS 147, 2 100s, 12 50s. 284 wkts at 32.25, BB 7-43

List A: 72 matches, 560 runs at 14.73, HS 55, 1 50s. 109 wkts at 28.84, BB 5-28

T20: 115 matches, 787 runs at 18.73, HS 45*. 118 wkts at 26.76, BB 4-11

After that it was the New Zealand Burger King Super Smash – how was that?

I played for Northern District Knights at Hamilton. It was my first time in that competition and I really enjoyed it. We won. It was a very good competition. You could see how small the grounds are. All the grounds are similar in New Zealand, and the wickets are very good, so that was a challenge – to be economical and also take wickets. It got me ready to join up with England.

The Trans-Tasman tri-series – was it a disappointment?

From England’s point of view, definitely. I am not making excuses, but I think Australia and New Zealand had been playing, and I think T20 is a different rhythm to 50-over. I think the players had been playing Big Bash, and we were a couple of games off match sharpness, and instincts, with our batting. We won our last game, and that is when it came together, we got a perfect score of 190, and defended it. But that was too late. We needed one or two more wins to go through. Again that was a learning experience for me, and as a team.

Trevor Bayliss says we shouldn’t play T20Is?

Everyone does have their opinions. You still have to respect that. Obviously personally I would love international T20 to continue as I do enjoy the format. It is the only format where I have been to the final in, which I did enjoy.

^{Jordan has represented England 69 times across three formats}

And then the Pakistan Super League?

It went pretty well for my team. I played for Peshawar and we made the final. We were actually down and out for a while and we needed to win the last two games to qualify. We went on a run. We played in Lahore and Karachi. I went there last year. This time it was very different, there was no anxiety about it. We all knew how it was going to run. Security was at a different level. The fans and people of Pakistan were brilliant, they really supported us. I really enjoyed entertaining a different type of crowd. It was a good spectacle. Cricket was the winner.

T20 is going well for you, bowling the super over and so on…

Yes, but definitely I want to get back in all formats. I was playing all three formats [for England], currently I am only playing one. I can only deal with what is in front of me, but definitely I am committed to all three formats for Sussex…