Jason Roy still has a future in red-ball cricket: Nasser Hussain

Jason Roy, the right-handed batsman, has been a part of England’s limited-overs setup ever since the Three Lions dismal World Cup campaign in Australia and New Zealand in 2015. He has turned out to be an integral part of the setup, having already played 70 ODIs and 32 T20Is in which he has notched 2536 and 743 runs respectively with six centuries and 16 half-centuries.

The 28-year-old recently played the ODI and T20I series against Sri Lanka and did reasonably well with the bat in hand. In the meantime, Nasser Hussain, the former English captain, reckons Roy has the potential to perform in red-ball cricket as well. He also mentioned that Roy would’ve made it to the Test team had the Poms toured countries like Australia or South Africa.

He is keeping his four-day game going

“He is a very talented young man. He is not just a limited-overs specialist and I think he has a lot to offer down the line. He puts the opposition attack under pressure. If this had been an Australia, New Zealand or South Africa tour Roy would have been in the Test team. He is not one of these lads, like Alex Hales, who is saying ‘I’ll just play one-day cricket’,” Hussain was quoted as saying in Sky Sports.

Roy played only a couple of first-class matches for Surrey in last season’s County Championship and did splendidly. He notched 196 runs at an average of 65.33 to go with a knock of 128 against Essex. Hussain also went on to say that Roy needs to work on his game in order to break into the Test team.

“He is keeping his four-day game going, England are looking for batsmen in the middle order. On pacy wickets with the ball coming on, Roy still has a future in red-ball cricket. That is why he has to work with Graham Thorpe and Mark Ramprakash on manoeuvering the ball early on in his innings.

He might have hard hands at times in England with the ball moving around, but why not [open with him]? Sometimes we’re a bit negative, let’s look at what he does do,” the 50-year-old added.

After the ODI series and the one-off T20, the Brits are scheduled to play three Tests against the Lankans at Galle, Pallekele, and Colombo respectively, starting November 06.

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