Roy’s the man to face Aussies

England World Cup hero in line for Ashes call-up

England head coach Trevor Bayliss has given his firmest endorsement yet for Jason Roy, who has reached at least 50 four times in five World Cup innings, to appear in the Ashes.

“Jason has had success at international cricket and that goes a long way to showing he is able to handle the pressure,” Bayliss told the BBC. “It’s a definite option, one we have spoken about around the selection table for the last 12 months or so. I’m quite sure that will be a big discussion point in the next few weeks.

“Whether it’s at the top of the order or top three, there’s no secret in Test cricket we’ve been looking for a solid combination, especially since ‘Cookie’ [Alastair Cook] retired last year.”

There is no chance that Keaton Jennings, who opened in England’s last Test, will be retained, creating a vacancy at the top of the order.

Whatever happens in the remainder of the World Cup, Roy also has designs on winning an Ashes berth this summer. “Playing Test cricket and playing in the Ashes has been an ambition of mine for years,” he said. “When you’re young, you don’t understand a huge amount about batting, you just go out there and bat. But now I feel like I know myself a lot better as a batsman.”

Last month Surrey’s coach, the Australian Michael Di Venuto, told a members’ forum that Roy should be used in the middle order in Tests. “Jason would be a very good No 4 in Test cricket,” Di Venuto said. “People make the comparison with David Warner, when Warner has been opening all his life. Jason is a middle-order player.”

But Roy suggested that he would prefer to bat in the top three. “I think I’m better off at the top of the order and then I can give it a go from there,” he said. “Most of my batting in first-class cricket has been at four, five or six, but I played at three twice last year so I’m happy wherever they want to put me.

“I’ve played a lot of white-ball games for England so if I get a chance that should hold me in good stead. Everyone knows what I’m about so if I get caught at fourth slip driving at a ball that maybe a ‘traditional’ Test cricketer wouldn’t drive at, then people hopefully won’t be too outraged by that.”

The pressures of playing in Thursday’s World Cup semi-final against Australia at Edgbaston will not change how England approach the game, Roy said.

“We’ve got to try and treat it like any other game. We went into the last two games knowing we had to win both of them to make it to the semi-final and we did that.

“We stayed pretty relaxed about it and made sure we got the job done. As exciting as it is, we’ve got to stay as relaxed as we can, understanding that it is a World Cup semi-final that doesn’t come around very often and that we’ve been working towards this for years.”

Roy, who missed three group matches with a torn left hamstring, has no concerns about not being fit to play in both the semi-final and, should England get that far, the final on Sunday.

“I’m as close to 100 per cent as I’m going to be,” he said. “I’m at match fitness and I’ll be able to get through the next two games for sure.

“There was a bit of a fear I might be out, there was a bit of a scare there initially, but I needed to stay positive around the group.”

After his return from injury, Roy has so far made 66 against India and 60 against New Zealand. “I still felt a little bit rusty. Now that I’ve had those games I feel back to where I want to be.

“To know that when I’m not feeling completely 100 per cent and I can still hit 60, then that’s not bad, but I know that big hundreds is where it is at for me and that is where you change games.”

Roy said that his World Cup so far was vindication for his hard work since being dropped before the semi-final of the Champions Trophy two years ago, following a return of 51 runs in eight innings. “I’m right where I wanted to be, both mentally and physically.”

Australia have been dealt a blow with batsman Usman Khawaja being ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a hamstring strain. Khawaja, who is also an Ashes doubt, has been replaced in the squad by Matthew Wade.

Steve Smith is likely to be promoted to No 3 in the batting order, a position in which he has alternated with Khawaja so far. Either Shaun Marsh, the cover batsman in the squad, who has scored just 26 runs in two innings in the tournament, or Wade is then likely to bat at No 4.

Australia also have injury concerns over all-rounder Marcus Stoinis. Mitchell Marsh, who is with the Australia A squad touring England, has been called up to the senior squad as cover.