At last, a Roy who can win for England!
Jason Roy came within a whisker of breaking a record that has stood for 23 years as he led England to a thumping one- day series triumph at the oval last night.
The adopted man of surrey smashed 162 on his home ground in England’s seriesclinching six-wicket victory and fell only five runs short of the highest individual score in England’s one-day history.
It was at Edgbaston in 1993 that another south africanborn Englishman, Robin smith, made 167 against australia, but it will surely not be long before someone in this vibrant young side surpasses that.
For now this was the most stunning example yet of the transformation in England’s limited-overs cricket and gave them a 2-0 lead with one to play in a Royal London series that has been one-sided ever since the Trent Bridge tie.
How brilliant this was from Roy, who reached his second hundred of the series from 74 balls and only fell for 162 off 118 with the winning post in sight.
not so long ago, the chances of England cruising to a revised target of 308 in a match reduced to 42 overs would have been laughable, but now sri Lanka simply had no answer to what would once have been considered the unorthodox blade of Roy.
‘To back up the performance at Edgbaston was extremely special,’ said Roy, who hit 112 in the second one- dayer in Birmingham. ‘a lot of hard work has gone into this and to see the rewards is incredibly satisfying. To do this at my home ground in a big game and then to win the series — I’m incredibly stoked and it was a remarkable evening.’
a glance at the TV during the near two-and-a-half hour rain delay was to see re-runs of the series between these sides 10 years ago when sri Lanka, playing a vibrant brand of 50- over cricket, thrashed an old-fashioned England 5-0.
How times have changed and how refreshing it is to see England setting the pace these days as the quickest scorers in one-day cricket since the dark days of 18 months ago when they reached their limitedovers nadir at the World Cup.
This was sri Lanka’s best batting performance of the series, reaching the heights of 305 for five, but even though that left England needing the second highest run chase in their one- day history, the result was never in doubt. Maybe angelo Mathews could have lifted sri Lanka to a formidable score had they received their full 50 overs but the loss of eight cost him the chance to do so and the captain finished unbeaten on 67 from 54 balls.
sri Lanka were well placed at 127 for one from 18 overs when the rain came but the weather cost them momentum, Kusal Mendis top- scoring with 77, and it seemed harsh when England’s Duckworth-Lewisstern target was increased by just two runs. It would not have mattered if it had been increased by 22 runs.
Roy had to open without the man with whom he smashed an unbeaten 256 to win at Edgbaston in alex Hales, who was struggling with a back niggle and had to drop to no 7.
In his absence Moeen ali was restored to the opening position he occupied at the World Cup but he could not take his big chance on a belter of an oval pitch as he flirted fatally outside his off- stump, as is his wont, and was caught behind. no matter. First Joe Root returned to form with 65 in a stand of 149 with Roy to set up England for a win that could not be denied despite a stunning diving catch from Danushka Gunathilaka to send back Eoin Morgan.
Roy kept on firing unselfishly until he was bowled by nuwan Pradeep but Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler got the job done with 11 balls to spare. England now head to Cardiff for saturday’s dead rubber very much on the one-day up.
‘Jason showed the experience of a player beyond his years,’ said England captain Morgan. ‘Part of being an international batsman is making form count and Jason epitomised that today.’