England man Roy aims to finish on a high

WHEN England step out at Eden Gardens today the stakes will be considerably lower than their last visit to Kolkata’s vast colosseum, but batsman Jason Roy believes there is still plenty to play for.

Less than nine months ago Eoin Morgan’s side came within an over of winning the World T20 here in West Bengal only to be denied by one of tournament cricket’s most-memorable finishes.

Needing 19 to win off the last six balls, West Indian allrounder Carlos Brathwaite heaved Ben Stokes into the stands four times-in-a-row to snatch the trophy from England’s grasp.

Roy, who made a duck in the World T20 final but is England’s top-scorer of the series with 155 in two knocks, is out to finish on a high.

Roy said: “Coming back here brings a mixed bag. Obviously being in the final was incredible but ultimately disappointing.

“It’s good to be back even though it’s frustrating it’s a dead rubber. We feel we’ve got to make our mark on India.

“As a squad we definitely are more experienced now, we’ve got a lot under our belts and a lot of good performances, good series wins, but it’s just disappointing about this series to be honest.

“We want to finish on a high and every game between now and the Champions Trophy is a stepping stone for us towards that huge competition.

“We’ve got a huge amount of positives to take from the last two games and although we got outplayed we put in some serious performances.

“We got 350 in the first game and 366 in the second game and lost both of them – but the positives to come out of that are amazing.”