By Dominic Hogan
Jason Roy’s woes this summer look set to continue for at least a few more days after yet another disappointing knock in the Hundred, managing just 21 off 19.
England’s World Cup-winning white-ball opener registered just his first score over 20 in 12 matches since mid-July, the longest such stretch in his career, as his torrid spell at the crease goes on.
The 32-year-old’s highest score of the competition so far came in the Oval Invincibles’ 10-run defeat to Birmingham Phoenix, as he found the boundary just twice in his 31-minute stint in one of the tournament’s more closely fought nail-biters.
He had looked set for a decent score and was going well after seeing out the power-play – unlike opening partner Will Jacks and No 3 Rilee Roussow.
And even the cricketing gods seemed to be on his side, breaking the documentary-maker’s golden rule of no interference to inexplicably keep the bails on a set of stumps that lit up to no avail after a Kane Richardson delivery found an inside edge and a thigh pad en route to its target.
But the Surrey man was unable to snatch the opportunity handed to him on an Oval pitch that has treated him so well in the past and fell to a Henry Brookes delivery just eight balls shy of the halfway point, picking out Richardson in the deep to leave his side needing 115 off just 52 balls.
After three ducks in his six Hundred outings so far in 2022 it speaks volumes that a man with 10 international centuries to his name will perhaps be glad to have even reached 21.
It is hard to believe that an opener who is one of the white-ball game’s must destructive punishers on his day can struggle to pick a line consistently, but cricket is a ludicrously fickle sport.
Even the seemingly incomparable Joe Root has had his own well-documented struggles, once going 27 innings without reaching triple figures, before a 125 against India at the Oval in September 2018.
The longest lean spell in the South African-born opener’s career will eventually come to an end – well it should with the infamous white-ball schedule providing him with a possible 10 T20I billings before the start of the World Cup in mid-October, should he make the England side.
The issue for Roy will be showing his team-mate Jos Buttler that he deserves a call-up to prove once again what the whole world knows he’s capable of.
An in-form Roy clobbers his way into any batting line-up around the world, international or franchise. All he needs to do is find that form in time to book himself a ticket on the plane to Pakistan for the first of seven – yes, seven – T20Is before a “warm up” tour against world champions Australia.
And if there is one thing that can add to the pressure of a high-profile lean spell it is questions hanging over your place in a national side. England fans can only hope he will respond to the questions with the style and class as his former Test captain.
