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Follow UsJason Roy is a player every team would like to have in their side. He bats in the Virender Sehwag mold. In 116 ODIs, he has notched up 12 hundreds. That is a hundred in every 10th innings, a ratio to boast at his career strike rate of 105.5. On each of those 12 occasions, England finished the innings at a run-rate in excess of 6.
As said above, any team would like such a player in their side, especially ahead of a World Cup. However, this England side is built differently. Sam Billings once said it is the toughest white-ball side to break in. That challenge doesn’t change for those who have played a part in making England’s white-ball side impenetrable. Roy is experiencing it the hard way.
"I'm sure he's hurt, but also, Jason knows what professional sport is like,” said Luke Wright, England’s national selector, about the decision to replace Roy with Harry Brook in the 15-man squad that the defending champions have finalized for the 2023 Cricket World Cup.
Roy was picked in the provisional squad announced before England featured in four T20Is and four ODIs against New Zealand. Roy missed all of them owing to back spasms. Brook shone in the first two T20Is, scoring 43* from 27 balls and 67 from 36 balls. In the ODIs, however, the Yorkshire-born amassed only 37 runs across three innings at a strike rate of 54.4.
It is astonishing how the dynamics around Roy have reversed from the 2019 World Cup where the swashbuckling opener was pivotal to England’s first 50-over World Cup triumph.
England’s campaign was not smooth. They lost two league games in between and their semifinal spot was in jeopardy. A common theme in both games was the absence of Jason Roy. He had pulled his hamstring and missed three matches in between.
The hosts managed without him against Afghanistan but lost to Sri Lanka and Australia. James Vince, Roy's replacement, wasn't doing well enough and Jonny Bairstow's form tapered off (27 off 39 balls versus Sri Lanka followed by a golden duck against Australia).
England were supposed to play India next. Another defeat would have meant dependency on other results to qualify for the semis. Eoin Morgan, adamant to play Roy against India said on the eve of the game: "If him playing is going to rule him out long-term, then absolutely not. But if it's going to rule him out for a couple of weeks, yes.”
Roy played and scored 66 from 57 balls. His presence freed Bairstow who scored 111 from 109 balls. They added 160 runs from 22 overs and England won the match. In fact, Roy smashed three consecutive 50s, including 85 off balls in the semifinal that flattened Australia’s spirits of coming back into the game.
The return of a half-fit Roy stormed England into the final. He had the highest strike rate for an opener in that World Cup: 115.4. He also averaged 63.3. The only games England lost were when Roy was not playing or when he failed once: against Pakistan.
Four years later, England have opted against taking a punt on Roy’s fitness.
This is the second World Cup in a row for which Roy has faced the axe. He missed the T20 version in 2022 due to poor form. A regular in England’s white-ball fortunes, Roy averaged only 18.7 in T20Is in 2022 at a strike rate of 104. He faced pressure from Phil Salt and was left out of the T20 World Cup which England eventually won.
This year, form was not an issue with the 33-year old as much as game time. The opener featured in six ODIs in the first quarter of this year, the only international cricket he has played in 2023. Besides three single-digit scores, he also scored two hundreds, in contrasting conditions in South Africa and Bangladesh.
Roy impressed in the sinking ship of Kolkata Knight Riders during the IPL, averaging 35.6 at a strike-rate of 151.6, after being signed as a replacement player. His numbers in the Hundred and T20 Blast were low (average 20.5, strike rate 130.3) but he had enough credit in the bank to fly to India, as the provisional squad suggested.
He is now a non-traveling reserve for the World Cup, as told by Wright.
What changed?
The four ODIs against New Zealand were seen as a shoot-out between Dawid Malan and Brook. However, Malan’s form suggests it should never have been the case - 611 runs in 12 ODIs since 2022 before the New Zealand series. He averaged 61.1 at a strike rate of 94.6 and had amassed four hundreds. Nine of these innings came at number three.
Malan further cemented his spot in the New Zealand series, piling scores of 54, 96 and 127. The left-hander will now open with Bairstow in the World Cup.
Brook, on the other hand, comes with immense promise. While that has not been seen in his brief six-match ODI career, Brook struck a 42-ball 105 not out during the Hundred for Northern Superchargers. In addition, he can be moved up and down the order.
"From Jason's point of view, he probably only covers us for an opener. Harry gives us that cover from one to six,” Wright answered.
Brook’s efficiency against spin will also be under the scanner during the World Cup. It is an area where his numbers have a large scope for improvement. He had a poor IPL, his only experience of playing in India. Even during his hundred at Eden Gardens, his only relevant knock during the season, Brook could not attack spin.
Hence, despite the tactical side of the decision, there is no denying that the “generational talent” tag laid against Brook has helped him leapfrog Roy.
“When we left him out of the original squad, we knew we were leaving out someone who is potentially a world-beater,” Wright said further.
It is a decision that can only be judged in hindsight. In 2019, England replaced David Willey with Jofra Archer at the last moment on similar grounds. Archer responded by delivering crunch overs for England, including the Super Over in the final.
But from Roy’s perspective, it is a harsh call. From the role standpoint, his spot has been taken by Malan.
Were the selectors lured by the promise in Brook? Or was Roy’s omission due to Ben Stokes, who was happily retired from the format for over a year and then asked to come back as a specialist batter on the basis of his clutch abilities? Or was it the fact that Roy didn’t sign a national contract with the ECB? Or was the lack of game time a serious concern?
We can only speculate.
In any case, we might have seen the last of Jason Roy in England colors. Wright mentioned that Roy isn’t ruled out of England’s future post the World Cup but it sounds more like a case of softening the blow.
Or perhaps fate has one last dance up its sleeve for Roy, which could only be possible in case of an injury in the England camp during the showpiece event that will bring the opener back into the picture.
Irrespective of everything, Roy will be remembered as one of the more influential batters in England’s white-ball cricket annals.
