Red-hot Roy sets the pace
JASON ROY’S latest star turn in one-day cricket offered another piece of evidence that suggests he may be the answer to England’s opening problem in the Test arena.
Test skipper Alastair Cook has had eight partners at the top of the order since Andrew Strauss’s retirement in 2012.
Roy, 26, has aspirations of becoming the ninth and his fluent 65 in England’s opening one-day international against Pakistan in Southampton, allied with another Alex Hales failure, boosted those claims.
Hales has struggled since making his Test debut last winter, averaging 18 in the recent series against Pakistan and 27 overall across 11 matches.
And the switch of format did not help the Nottinghamshire opener here as he made just seven before edging Umar Gul to slip at the start of England’s rain-hit pursuit of 261 at the Ageas Bowl.
After restricting the tourists to 260-6, it was Roy who gave England’s chase the early impetus, battling through a dizzy spell caused by the extreme heat on the South Coast to register his fourth ODI half-century. The Surrey opener smashed 65 from 56 balls to help England to 116-2 by the time he holed out to Mohammad Nawaz in the 19th over of the chase. Joe Root, who had put on 89 in 85 balls with Roy, then made 61 before he was run out by Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali as England were pegged back to 158-3. England welcomed back Ben Stokes for this match, the Durham all-rounder playing as a specialist batsman as he continues his recovery from the knee injury that cut short his Test summer. And he came to the crease with his side still needing 103 more for victory from 133 balls after Root was dismissed when Morgan called for a single that was never there. By the time the rain fell late in the evening, England were well ahead on Duckworth-Lewis and on their way to a victory that would give them a 1-0 lead in this fivematch series.
Pakistan would have been disappointed with their total after they won the toss and batted first on a good pitch.
However, despite halfcenturies of their own from Azhar and Sarfraz Ahmed, the steady loss of wickets undermined their hopes of posting a 300-plus score.
Mark Wood, playing his first international in 10 months following a career-threatening ankle injury, had given Morgan’s side the perfect start, getting rid of Sharjeel Khan with a rapid short ball.
The more leisurely part-time off-spin of Root got England their second breakthrough, Mohammad Hafeez sweeping straight to Hales at square leg.
By then Azhar had been dropped twice on nine, Hales and Jos Buttler reprieving him.
He went on to make 82 from 110 balls before he was eventually dismissed in the 36th over by Adil Rashid.
Sarfraz’s 55 from 58 deliveries helped Pakistan reach 218-4 from 42.1 overs by the time rain interrupted play for 20 minutes.
Play restarted and despite a run-a-ball seventh-wicket stand of 34 between Swansea-born Imad Wasim, the first Welsh player to represent Pakistan, and Mohammad Nawaz, the tourists’ total looked well under par.