Jason Roy makes red-ball comeback for Surrey

Cliff Notes – Jason Roy makes red-ball comeback for Surrey

• Jason Roy, England’s World Cup-winning opener, returns to red-ball cricket with Surrey against Warwickshire after a hiatus since 2020.
• Roy’s Test career was brief, averaging 13.75 in eight innings, and he has not played a longer format match in over two years, reflecting a decline in his T20 stock.

Jason Roy makes red-ball comeback for Surrey

Jason Roy, England’s World Cup-winning opener, has made a surprise comeback to red-ball cricket, after being named in Surrey’s XI to take on Warwickshire in the County Championship at Edgbaston*.

Roy, 34, averages 36.46 in 87 previous red-ball matches in the course of his career, with nine centuries including a best of 143 against Lancashire in 2015. However, he has not played the format since making scores of 4 and 14 in a one-off Bob Willis Trophy appearance for Surrey against Hampshire in the Covid-hit summer of 2020.

That, in turn, was Roy’s first and last outing since his short-lived England Test career in the summer of 2019. Fresh from his starring role in that summer’s World Cup victory, Roy was picked to open the batting in five Tests against Ireland and Australia. However, his hard-handed technique was found out by Australia’s seamers in particular, and despite moving into the middle-order for his final appearance at Old Trafford, he was dropped ahead of the series decider after averaging 13.75 in eight innings.

His return to the format comes with Surrey looking to fill the gap created by the absence of the club’s ECB-contracted batters, Ollie Pope and Jamie Smith, who are rested for this fixture alongside Gus Atkinson ahead of the impending Test against Zimbabwe later this month.

Roy’s availability also reflects his declining stock on the global T20 circuit. Despite being one of the pivotal figures of England’s white-ball revolution from 2015 onwards, Roy was the notable omission from the team’s World Cup defence in India in 2023, and was overlooked for this year’s IPL after withdrawing for personal reasons on three occasions in 2020, 2022 and 2024. With his final 50-over match for England coming in Bangladesh in March 2023, it is now more than two years since he played anything longer than a 20-over innings.

Surrey, the three-times County Champions, are currently third in the Division One table – one place behind Warwickshire and ten points adrift of table-topping Nottinghamshire. However, they found their form in the last round with a three-day victory over Somerset at the Kia Oval. Their prospects have been boosted by the arrival of their overseas players Nathan Smith and Kurtis Patterson, while Tom Lawes also returns for the first time this season.