Struggling Roy gets lost in the chasm between different formats
England opener’s one-day aggression is not suited to the more complex trials of Test cricket, writes Tim Wigmore
The new ball is pitched up, to invite swing. Showing contempt for traditional notions of playing himself in, Jason Roy crashes the ball through the off side with such power that Australia’s fielders do not even bother giving chase. Before the over is out, Roy repeats the shot, with the same result.
The start of Roy’s audacious 85 in the World Cup semi-final embodies why he is one of the world’s most feared openers in one-day international cricket. And it illustrates why, as England came looking for their 15th Test opener since Andrew Strauss retired in 2012, they could not resist Roy.
Before his debut, captain Joe Root declared that he wanted Roy to channel his ODI belligerence. “We want Jason to be himself, to express himself and trust his instincts as much as possible.”
There was one snag: opening in Test cricket is a challenge of an entirely different order to doing so in one-day internationals. In the first 10 overs in England, the ball swings twice as much in Tests as in ODIS; the seam movement is more than a third greater.
This all speaks to the perils of trying to import a method from one format to another. So rapidly are the skills needed to thrive in cricket’s limited-overs and Test formats diverging that, rather than merely being different versions of the same sport, they are better understood as being completely different sports.
The selection of Roy to open was only a little removed from England picking their rugby union World Cup squad based on performances at the rugby league ground which backs on to Headingley.
The most obvious precedent for Roy’s Test selection is playing for Australia. But the greatness of David Warner, like Virender Sehwag, as buccaneering Test openers conceals how rare cricketers of this ilk have been. Only eight openers have ever scored 1,000 runs with a strike rate above 65. Even the very best have