Joy for Roy as his work against spin pays off

JASON Roy admitted he has worked hard to banish “darker thoughts” about facing left-arm spin at the start of his innings after inspiring England to another T20 World Cup victory in Abu Dhabi.

In an effort to stifle big-hitting England openers Roy and Jos Buttler, opposition sides have resorted to starting the innings with spin and slow left-armers have done so in both of England’s two tournament games so far.

Deliveries moving away from the bat are known to have caused Roy problems in the past, but he revealed extensively facing leftarmer Liam Dawson, one of England’s travelling reserves, in the nets is helping to combat that.

His recent endeavour was rewarded as he handled the leftarm spin of Shakib Al Hasan and Nasum Ahmed expertly en route to 61 off 38 balls in his 50th T20 international to lead England to an eight-wicket win over Bangladesh.

Roy said: “As a batsman, as a cricketer, you always have some darker thoughts going into your mind before the game: What if this can happen, this can happen. But you just have to remind yourself that your training has been so good.

“I think it’s an area of my game I’ve been working extremely hard on - on slow pitches against leftarm spinners, spinners and the angle as such.

“I have worked a hell of a lot against Liam Dawson in the nets. He’s been bowling so much to me which has really helped my game.

“It was a big game for me to go out there and put all the hard work I’ve been doing in the nets into play. I’ve just got to keep reminding myself to do what I do in training, and things will be all right.”

Roy came to the fore after another exceptional collective effort in the field from England, who followed up their blowout of the West Indies for 55 in their tournament opener by restricting Bangladesh to 124 for nine. Tymal Mills finished with three for 27.

■ Match report on Page 34