Roy: I want to score the big hundreds

England have never had such a destructive opening batsman as Jason Roy – who is due to open with Alex Hales in the third and final ODI against West Indies today, with England having secured the series 2-0.

Graham Thorpe, England’s batting coach, now wears a helmet when he gives batsmen such as Roy throwdowns in the nets. “It’s ridiculous, it’s frightening,” Paul Collingwood, England’s fielding coach, told Sky Sports. “I was just having a little playfight with Jason Roy the other day, and I thought he was going to kill me.

“Coming from the era I played in – certainly in the early days – you would have maybe four players who could clear the ropes and you were frightened to bowl at, but now the line-up is just so powerful. You see the confidence they have to go out there and hit the ball hard. It’s frightening enough as a coach in the nets.”

But Roy is not satisfied with a total of only three centuries in his 36 ODI innings. “Personally I want to be known as a guy who is going to win matches and score big hundreds, be that solid guy at the top of the order.”

Roy says he does not mind whether he opens with Hales or Sam Billings. “Halesy and I kind of go out there and attack from ball one. Billings and I will go out there and it’s about accumulating and running hard and pushing the field. I guess what I’ve learned from Sam and from Halesy, is combining the two, and that has made me, potentially or hopefully, a better cricketer.”