Roston Chase awaits face-off with Jofra Archer

Five years since facing a fiery 20-year-old Jofra Archer in a club game in Sussex, Roston Chase is hoping to have better success against the Barbados-born England pacer.

In 2015, Chase turned out for Cuckfield in the Sussex Premier League, and in the game against Middleton-on-Sea, he was trapped lbw off the first ball by Archer. The young pacer reduced Cuckfield to eight for five and then limped off with an injury.

"I knew Jofra [before]. I did play against him in the league in Barbados. He was quite young though, playing for the Barbados school team. He was always a good talent but he was not always that fast. He had some pace but he wasn't as rapid as he is now," Chase said.

Archer picked up five wickets in the game, but Cuckfield recovered from the precarious position they were in after the fast bowler left the field owing to an injury. They made 265 for eight and ended up winning by 100 runs. Chase recalled that batting became so much easier after Archer was out injured.

"Things became so much easier for us," Chase said. "We ended up getting a big total and we ended up winning the game quite easily."

One year since the face-off, Chase made his Test debut for West Indies. He has 32 Tests to his name now, scoring 1,695 runs at an average of 31.38 including five centuries. He pointed out that the stint in the Sussex Premier League, though not entirely successful, helped him toughen up.

"The pitches were a bit up and down so I didn't get many runs. But it really helped my cricket as a batsman and my all-round game. Not only skill-wise, it really helped me mentally. I was alone out there. I only had the guys that played in the side with me and outside of the cricket, the guys were busy. It was just me on my own, trying to do my best. That really toughened me up as a cricketer and mentally," Chase said.

On his last tour to England in 2017, Chase could only make 80 runs in six innings, averaging 13.33. However, when England toured the West Indies last year, Chase made a first-innings half-century and returned 8/60 in the second innings with the ball in the opening Test in Barbados.

Archer, on the other hand, qualified for England last year and had a stellar Ashes series where he picked up 22 wickets in four Tests. His last Test series was in South Africa where he played just one Test match before an elbow injury saw his tour being cut short.