The Aussies are under more pressure than me. I expect verbals. It’s great if it’s started already
JASON ROY ON HIS ASHES BAPTISM OF FIRE AND THAT WORLD CUP WIN
Jason Roy is trying to get his head round the seismic sequence of events that has seen him scale one massive peak — and must immediately prepare to confront another.
‘It’s absolutely ridiculous,’ smiles Roy. ‘I had my first child at the start of the year, then we won the World Cup and now I’m going to be playing in the ashes. I don’t think it’s ever going to get any better than that. I’m actually quite emotional.
‘It’s something you dream of and then, when you’re doing it, you think: “This is actually happening”. It’s pretty surreal.’
Roy, 29, made his name as the most destructive member of England’s white-ball World Cup winners and is now about to be catapulted into the red-ball deep end on Thursday in the biggest Test series of all.
First things first. The World Cup may be over but we must talk about it. Especially as it was Roy who threw the ball to Jos Buttler at the end of the most dramatic of all cricket matches to run out new Zealand’s Martin Guptill and win the World Cup final for England.
‘I’ve watched that last ball a million times and I’ve had so many thoughts run through my head,’ he says. ‘Imagine if I’d fumbled it like I did earlier in the super over? It makes me feel sick to think what might have been.
‘It was like it was happening in slow motion. I could see the seam of the ball rolling down the turf as it came towards me. Everything seemed to stop. There was no noise. It gives me goosebumps now.
‘But I knew if I collected it cleanly and got it in, there was no chance they could get two. The throw was good enough, we’re here now and I’ve got the medal. To be part of that was sensational.’
Quick as a flash, Roy was handed a taste of the ultimate form of the game in the victory against Ireland last week but now he must prove he can do to Mitchell starc and Co what he has been doing in 50-over cricket for the past four years.
‘I’ve been speaking to Joe Root for some time about my Test ambitions,’ reveals Roy to sportsmail.
‘and we decided to leave it until after the World Cup, so I could put all my eggs in one basket rather than get consumed by Test cricket.
‘Then I had a decent enough World Cup to allow me to push for a spot in the ashes. It felt like everything was moving at the speed of light walking out against Ireland and now all of a sudden we’re two days away from the ashes.
‘Weirdly enough, my Test debut felt like just another game, which is a good thing. I spoke to Rooty afterwards and said: “I was a bit nervous and it was a bit daunting but it wasn’t anything different”. He said: “Perfect, that’s how it should be”.’
What was different was being presented with his first Test cap by sir alastair Cook. ‘The words he said were very special and something I’ll never forget,’ says Roy (below).
‘He told me I’d earned the right to be there and how proud he was of what I’d achieved. He also said he looked forward to presenting more caps to me, basically saying I wasn’t going to be a flash in the pan. To get told that by him is pretty cool. He has left big boots to fill. I don’t think I’ve got enough time to score the Test runs he did but I’ll give it a good crack!’
The initial evidence of ‘Roy of the limited-overs’ turned Test batsman has left the jury out, at least in his top order role.
He looked all at sea in the first innings against Ireland, becoming one of Tim Murtagh’s victims, and then showed glimpses of what he can do in a second-innings 72 made, perhaps significantly, at no 3.
‘The ball was going all over the place,’ says Roy of Murtagh’s first-morning destruction of England. ‘you don’t practise a huge amount against that type of bowling. It was like 70mph leg and offspin. It will be very different against the aussies.’
Then, in a move that may at some stage encourage England to shift Roy, he was protected by the promotion of a nightwatchman in Jack Leach when England were faced with one over of their second innings on a bonkers opening day at Lord’s. ‘I was happy to open,’ insists Roy. ‘It’s my job and I won’t shy away from it. I’ve never had a nightwatchman in county cricket but I couldn’t say: “no coach, no captain, I’m going in” because if I’d nicked off, I would have looked an idiot. But it worked out all right and I think Leachy should be on the honours board for his 92! ‘I actually felt good in the second innings. I just wanted to play strong shots because I knew the pitch was a bit dodgy. I’ve spoken about getting big hundreds in white-ball cricket and nothing changes in Tests. It wasn’t a bad score on that pitch but for Test cricket it was pretty average. ‘I will adapt to whatever is thrown my way and whatever the attack has got. If it so happens that we need me to go on the counter-attack or be a bit more aggressive, I will be. I will take it step by step, still try to be attacking and positive but build my innings, too.’ The words tumble out of a man living the dream. He is sitting, somewhat incongruously, at a branch of specsavers in Birmingham where he was asked by England’s Test sponsors to have an eye test ahead of the ashes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Roy was found to have ‘better than 20/20 vision’. Then his focus switched to his first taste of ashes mind games. australia’s Josh Hazlewood suggested he will find life tougher in Tests than the one-day game. Roy responded with a deft touch. ‘He’s absolutely right,’ he smiles. ‘It is a different game and of course it’s going to be hard. He’s stating the obvious there, isn’t he? But they’re going to be under more pressure than I am. australia’s attack have played Test cricket. ‘They should know how to bowl and they’re under pressure to get me out. I’m going in with open eyes and I’m expecting a lot of verbals. If it’s already started, then great. That just gets you going. It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be challenging, it’s a new prospect for me. But it will be fun.’
Roy had fun when, in an innings that sealed his ashes spot, he smashed 85 off 65 balls with five sixes in the semi-final at Edgbaston. starc retired ‘hurt’ with figures of one for 70 off nine overs.
Did he put down a marker? ‘Maybe,’ he says. ‘It’s a different colour ball now and different skill-sets are needed but cricket’s cricket. The ball comes down and you’ve got to score runs, while they’ve got to get you out. The same principle applies to any form of the game.
‘It’s nice to keep it simple. Whereas in one-day and T20 cricket you’re looking to attack, here I can relax and bat all day. But they’re a high-class attack. They know I’ve played one Test, so they will have the upper-hand. But I’m not scared and not doubting myself. I’m just excited to be going to work against one of the best attacks in the world — and at Edgbaston, too.’
Roy, who has fully recovered from the hamstring injury that nearly derailed England’s World Cup, will continue as an opener for now rather than dropping down the order, but insists he is happy to bat anywhere.
‘of course I feel tired mentally but there’s no place for that at the moment,’ he insists.
‘We’ve scaled the first peak and there’s one more to come now. only when the season is over will I be able to sit back with a glass of red and look back on a pretty cool year. I can’t sit here yet and say: “Test cricket will be a hundred per cent for me and I’ll succeed”. It’s the unknown. If I do well, that’s incredible but if I don’t at least I’ve given it a nudge.’
and he will have a lot of fun trying to climb that second Everest.
Specsavers, the official Test partner for england cricket, are encouraging fans over 35 to take eye tests and those over 50 to take audiology exams this summer.