Key: Archer can be our T20 special one

ROB Key has backed Jofra Archer to prove he is England’s “special” one at the T20 World Cup but admits he is still crossing his fingers over the seamer’s fitness after a year out of the game.

- RORY DOLLARD

Once he was passed fit for England’s title defence in the Caribbean, Key had no qualms about selecting Archer in a 15-man squad, despite the 29-year-old suffering a long series of false starts and setbacks over the past couple of years.

He has not played professional cricket since the Indian Premier League last May, laid low by a recurrence of a stress fracture in his troublesome right elbow, but his status as an X-factor cricketer means he is pencilled in to lead the attack with high expectations.

All he has to do now is make the team flight to his native Barbados on May 31 without picking up any further injuries.