BIG GAME PLAYERS
So far, so good for safari fans Roy and Bairstow
JASON ROY has warned there is still more to come after adding yet another milestone to a long list of records broken by England’s one-day kings.
Several of the tourists were nearly sunk without trace on safari in Sri Lanka when their jeep was trapped in a quagmire in Kaudulla National Park on yesterday’s day off.
But opening batsman Roy – more at home with a cover drive than a game drive – has formed a thrilling partnership with big-hitting Jonny Bairstow since they came together late in 2017.
For the first time, a pair from these shores has scored more than 1,000 runs together in a calendar year.
When you consider that the next best tally for English batsmen is 794 from Nick Knight and Marcus Trescothick in 2002, you get an idea of just how much better things are right now.
“That’s a nice stat, a beautiful stat,” said Roy. “It’s something to keep working on.
“It is all good foundations leading into the World Cup. I just think we are free-flowing batsmen who go out there and express ourselves and look to take it to the bowlers.
“Jonny has got different scoring areas to me and the bowlers have to come in and bowl separate deliveries to both batters.”
There are still another four matches for the pair to keep climbing up a chart that features plenty of names who would be considered the gold standard of one-day cricket – such as Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly.
That is the kind of company in which this England side belongs as they push the boundaries of what is possible on their relentless march towards next year’s World Cup.
Skipper Eoin Morgan has been consistent in his message to the players not to throttle back on the way they have been playing over the past four years. Even though the tournament is now on the horizon, he is determined his players will not start limiting themselves.
“I hope it can still get better,” added Morgan. “Everyone has played positive and aggressive cricket and that goal has never been jeopardised.
“We would rather be bowled out for 200 trying to aim high rather than scrape to 300 and still lose.
“The challenge was set out to our batsmen with no ceiling and they were told they would be backed – and the selectors have done just that so they can express themselves.”