Worried Roy says daughter, not ton, was on his mind

NOTTINGHAM: Jason Roy was at a loss to explain how he had scored a match-winning century against Pakistan following an overnight visit to hospital with his baby daughter.

Roy’s superb 114 was the centrepiece of England’s chase as they beat Pakistan at Trent Bridge on Friday to go 3-0 up with one to play in a ODI series.

Yet Roy’s eighth century at this level came in trying circumstances, with the Surrey opening batsman saying he’d been more worried about daughter Everly than piling up the runs.

EMOTIONAL KNOCK

“It was a very emotional hundred. I didn’t see it coming,” Roy told BBC Radio.

“I had a bit of a rough morning so this one is a special one for me and my family,” added Roy, who returned to hospital after a threewicket win, although his daughter’s condition is not believed to be serious.

“It was my little one. We had to take her to hospital at 1:30 in the morning. I stayed there until 8:30am, came back for a couple of hours sleep and got to the ground before warm-up and cracked on.”

England were cruising to a target of 341 while Roy was at the crease but, after comfortable wins at Southampton and Bristol, his dismissal sparked a collapse that saw three wickets lost for seven runs in 10 balls.

And when Moeen Ali was out for a duck, England were 216 for five. But Ben Stokes’s unbeaten 71 eventually saw England win with three balls to spare.

“For Ben to soak up that pressure, come through it and be not out at the end will give him lots of confidence. It was great to see him play in that fashion,” said stand-in captain Jos Buttler. Brief scores: Pakistan 340-7 in 50 overs (B Azam 115, M Hafeez 59; T

Curran 4-75) lost to England 341-7 in 49.3 overs (J Roy 114, B Stokes 71 *)

TIGER MISSES CUT

Woods was along for the ride— a short one, in this case, because he missed the cut. He marvelled at Koepka hitting 7-iron into a