Don’t panic . . . just stick with Roy!

THERE will be even more clamour to bring Jonny Bairstow into England’s Champions Trophy side after events at Lord’s, but I have to disagree. I’m not trying to keep Bairstow out of the team. He is a wonderful talent, and a great battler. I also accept Jason Roy is in bad nick but I don’t believe England should make a big change on the eve of the competition. Roy has not become a bad player overnight, and Bairstow has never opened for England. A last-minute change would reek of panic. England have been there before, with distinctly mixed results. There is only one set of circumstances in which I would consider replacing Roy with Bairstow. If the coach or captain looks into Roy’s eyes and sees a player who is mentally shot, then he cannot play. But, assuming he is mentally tough enough, England have to stick with him. They must tell him he was good enough to get three quick half- centuries in India in January and that he has the confidence of the dressing room. In my opinion, Roy has enough credit to be allowed a lean spell. He has got England off to plenty of flyers, and his ODI stats — an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 102 — are good. Stats say England are bottom of the pile when it comes to opening partnerships since the 2015 World Cup, but they are misleading. When Roy has done well, Alex Hales has struggled — and vice versa. If both fire at the same time, spectators will be in for a treat. That’s not to say Roy has no work to do. He has a technical issue with bringing the bat round himself, so he takes his hands outside the line of the ball and is susceptible to one that nips back. That strong bottom hand can get him in trouble when he’s out of form.

But he has also had a couple of decent deliveries in this series from Kagiso Rabada — a 93mph yorker at the Ageas Bowl, and one at Lord’s which went down the slope.

It may be that Roy has not benefited from his recent stint at the IPL. Perhaps he would have been better re-acclimatising to English conditions with Surrey, and batting with Kumar Sangakkara on a good track at The Oval.

That said, there have also been times when I have looked at him and wondered whether he would come to regret some of those flashy 40s off 20- odd balls. They are all well and good but you really need to cash in when you are in form, and he has not always done that.

Now he has to back himself to put his bad run behind him. England’s first game of the Champions Trophy is on Thursday against Bangladesh at The Oval, his home ground. It is the perfect chance for him to prove the old sporting adage about class and form.