Test travails threaten Roy’s one-day prowess
Dwindling confidence could hamper batsman’s speciality, writes Nick Hoult at Old Trafford
Jason Roy puffed out his cheeks and wore a resigned look as he walked back to the pavilion with his middle stump flat on the ground. Roy was on 22, had just punched Josh Hazlewood through the covers for four and perhaps felt he was finally finding his rhythm in his new position lower down the order.
But Hazlewood was in the middle of a high-quality spell and his next ball was a beauty that nipped back, tailed in through the gate and bowled Roy, who lost his balance and fell forward with his technique and shot selection laid bare again.
Roy tried to be aggressive and drive at a ball he should have defended, given that he had just cracked Hazlewood for four and England needed a steady hand, not a shot-a-ball riposte.
Roy is fine on the attack, but Australia know if they probe away at his defences for long enough he will be breached – and in Test cricket, that is not good enough. If England lose this Test and he fails in the second innings, then it is time to bring in Ollie Pope, Roy’s
young Surrey counterpart, to play in the fifth Test at the Oval next week.
Roy is a fine talent, and nobody challenged the decision to pick him for this series. Indeed, some would say it should have happened earlier, probably in the West Indies in March, when he could have bedded in to Test cricket away from the heat of an Ashes series played at the end of a draining World Cup.
But he should not have been asked to open against Australia, because it is not his natural position in first-class cricket, and failing in that job drained his confidence going into this game.
Roy was admirably honest earlier this week about his problems in Test cricket. He described Australia’s “relentless” attack as the best he has ever faced, and admitted he was struggling to come to terms with the pressures of playing the longer format.
“I knew that opening the batting in Test cricket was going to be completely different to one-day cricket, but I have found it really difficult. Coming straight into the Test arena off the back of the World Cup – feeling mentally and physically drained – I have been trying to learn on the job and work out my method while playing.
“I have been going out to bat, facing a few balls and thinking, ‘This is working’ – and then I’ll get a good ball, or a drive ball that I nick, and you have to start all over again next innings,” he wrote in a diary for the Sky Sports website.
“People have made their conclusions, saying, ‘He’s not a Test player’ and this sort of stuff. I think I am and can be and so moving down the order to No 4 for this Test, mentally, it’s a lot more comforting. You get a bit more time to ease into an innings.”
More time, yes – but Hazlewood is a superb bowler, and it was not going to be any easier against him with an old ball, on a roll in gloomy light at Old Trafford.
Roy’s problem was always going to be defence. He pushes at the ball, leaving a big gap between bat and pad, and plays defensive shots on the move. His stroke play helps him get out of trouble in one-day cricket, where there are no slips. Batsmen have the licence to attack and he does not have to judge which balls to leave.
Roy has left a huge, positive imprint on England’s cricket this summer and should be remembered for his dashing shots that won a World Cup, rather than Ashes flop.
Without Roy, England would never have reached the World Cup final, let alone won the competition. What England cannot risk is draining his confidence to such an extent that it damages him as a one-day cricketer. It is not a risk worth taking.
England cannot risk draining his confidence and damaging him as a one-day cricketer