South African-born English player Jason Roy’s name was recently omitted from the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022 squad. The 32-year-old right-handed opener was also left out of the Pakistan tour squad as well.
Jason did not have many runs coming out of his bat this summer, with less than eighty runs in the last six innings in T20I matches Jason was badly suffering. While he had the golden opportunity to show his contribution to the team during ‘The Hundred’ tournament, he remained unsuccessful there too. Playing for the Oval Invincibles men he began the league with three ducks in four innings.
“I understand why they’ve done it, but personally I would’ve stuck with Jason Roy for the T20 World Cup. You don’t want an opening batter walking out at the MCG not having done it before. You want that solidity at the top and that experience of what it takes on such a big occasion. He has had some horrendous dismissals, I get that. He’s hardly been able to score a run this summer. I think after the World Cup it might have been time to get rid of him, particularly if he didn’t perform,” said former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen during an interview on Betway Insider.
Later Roy missed out on the final two matches of the Oval Invincibles due to lower back stiffness. Since November 2021, Roy has only put 206 runs on the board with an average of 18.72. Though Roy’s axing from the England team was not a surprise, many still doubted this big decision right before the World Cup T20. The managing director of the England team Rob Key believes the decision will do good for the team.
“The way we went about it is that we worked out the World Cup XI almost and the squad for that then we worked back from there. And that’s where those decisions came from. We thought who was the best, what was the best opening partnership for the World Cup and we felt that it’s unfortunate timing as much as anything else for Jason Roy. He has a bad patch of form at the worst time.” He further clarifies. In the final squad, England has named Phil Salt as one of their openers.
Rob Key also declares that Jason Roy can always make a comeback to the England team whenever he finds form. “He just has to go find form, to be honest. It’s not a good time to lose form in this format. The game’s about confidence as much as anything else. If he finds that again, he is one of the best openers around in this format. When he is playing well, he is at the top of this game. So I don’t see his T20 career over.
I certainly don’t see at the age that he is, that this is the end of Jason Roy.” He also mentioned that 50 overs form is his strongest suit.
“We felt that it was too much of a gamble to continue going into Pakistan and then straight into Australia where the squad that goes to the World Cup from there.” He is a fantastic player. It’s just that the timing has been awful for him.” Key concludes.
Jason Roy was in the ICC World Cup 2019 and the opener had contributed 443 runs for his team. The 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup is only a year away and Roy has plenty of shots to secure a position in the team.