Surrey’s Jason Roy produces match-winning innings for England
Surrey’s Jason Roy bounced back with a match-winning 120 off 108 balls in England’s 38-run victory over Australia at Cardiff on Saturday.
Since returning from a second stint in the IPL where, again, the 27-year-old batsman saw practically no action whatsoever, Roy had appeared to be scratching around for form.
He averaged 36.20 in the Royal London One-Day Cup. That may be par for other mortals, but with Elgar averaging 57.25, Foakes 55.80, Pope 39.66, Burns 38.57 and Jacks 36.28, Roy was lagging in comparison to his Surrey team-mates.
He then made 34 in England’s shock defeat to Scotland at Edinburgh, before registering a second ball duck in the curtain-raiser to the current England-Australia ODI series.
Admittedly the delivery from Billy Stanlake nipped back so much it would have tested the world’s best batsmen, but Roy then showed form is only temporary by setting up an England victory in the follow-up.
Roy rates his man-of-the-match century in Cardiff as his “favourite” innings for England so far.
“I had a long discussion with Graham Thorpe [England’s batting coach] just after I got out and said it was probably my favourite innings,” said Roy.
“What pleased me was my tempo was throughout – the way I knuckled down early, found it quite difficult, got through some difficult patches and then came out the other side.
“When I wanted to start expanding my game – trying to bat for 50 overs and go through the gears – I got out, but I was happy nonetheless.”
Roy added: “It was a big aim for me to come back after a long winter and start well on home soil. Obviously we had the hiccup against Scotland, so in the next game I was a bit panicky, a bit wary of where my game’s at.
“But I have put it a lot of hard work since [making a duck at the Oval] and I got my rewards.”
BY MARCUS HOOK
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