Chris Jordan will turn 19 next month having played just 5 first-class matches for Surrey. He has not scored a 50 nor taken 5 wickets in an innings yet the fact he is destined for big things is unquestioned.

Born and brought up in Barbados (although not classified as an overseas player by dint of having an English Grandmother), Jordan has the kind of natural fast bowling gifts that so characterised the West Indies attack of a previous era. Generating genuine pace with the smoothest of actions, this young man was born to bowl.

What sets Jordan apart from a lot of young speedsters is that he already looks like the finished article. He has command of line and length, an ability to work batsmen over – and out – and the capacity to dig deep on flat wickets. In the last round of county championship matches against Lancashire on a typically true Oval pitch, Jordan knocked over Lancashire’s tail in the first innings with the type of short-pitch bowling that gives lower order batsmen nightmares. More impressively he put in a mid afternoon burst in the second innings when Lancashire were cruising that touched 90mph and wouldn’t have looked out of place in Test cricket.

Having arrived in England courtesy of Bill Athey’s scouting for Dulwich College, Jordan has still to decide where his national allegiance will eventually lie. Clive Lloyd, the former West Indies captain, who is still an influential man in West Indies cricket, watched him bowl at the Oval and many shrewd judges believe he could stroll into the West Indies national side now as a bowling all-rounder.

England are due to announce their selections for this winter’s National Academy shortly. Chris Jordan will figure prominently in the selectors’ discussions. He is certainly one to watch.

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