‘I will never walk away from England’ - Jason Roy opens up after relinquishing national contract

England opener Jason Roy has revealed that even though he has relinquished his increment contract with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), his priority remains to play for the national team, especially with the ODI World Cup coming up. Notably, few reports suggest that the flamboyant batter has signed a new deal with Major League Cricket (MLC) and will be playing for Los Angles Knight Riders (LAKR) in the inaugural edition of the tournament.

Roy, in a statement, confirmed that ECB does not have any issues with him playing in the MLC as long as they do not have to pay the cricketer for the remainder of the season. The cricketer also mentioned that since England will be playing five-match Test series against Australia during that time, there will be no conflict of schedule as well.

“Following a bit of unwanted speculation over the last 24 hours, I wanted to clarify that I am not and never will ‘walk away from England’. Representing my country continues to be my proudest moment as a professional cricketer. I hope to play for England for many more years, that remains my priority. I've had clear and supportive conversations with the ECB about participating in Major League Cricket. The ECB were happy with me to play in the competition as long as they didn’t have to pay me for the remainder of the contractual year,” Roy mentioned in a statement.

“As a single format player with no central contract, I wanted to take the opportunity to play this competition as there are currently no scheduling conflicts with England. It benefits me as an England player to play as much competitive cricket as possible. Just to be very clear, my priority is England cricket, especially with a World Cup soon upon us. It is for me, and for any player, the greatest honor to receive a cap to play for their country,” the cricketer concluded.

Notably, Roy was recently playing for Kolkata Knight Riders in the ongoing IPL 2023. He was one of the most impressive openers in the tournament, scoring 285 runs in eight matches.