Jason Roy: England’s New Prodigy

England cricket certainly has undergone one of the most discernible paradigm shifts in recent times. They have walked a fair mile from being a torpid, circumspect side. They are basically a bunch of fresh faces who possesses that correct amount of conceitedness, necessary to wade them through the travails of limited over cricket. They don’t pride too much on the name at the back of the jersey and are happy to do the job for the name in front of it. And one such young English emerald is Jason Roy. The 25-year-old, who has played his domestic cricket for Surrey has really impressed at the international stage and is currently one of the most touted names in the English cricketing circuit.
Jason Roy was brought to England at the age of 10 from South Africa. He played most of his cricket for Surrey in his young years and made his first mark by scoring 51 against Western Provinces Under- 19 when Surrey U-19 toured South Africa in 2007. He earned his international call against India in T20s in September 2014, after going on to smash 677 runs at a superb average of 48.35 in that season’s T20 blast. Most conspicuous of the young man’s many abilities is his character of backing himself no matter what he is being presented with. He has an extremely impressive truculent proclivity and he yokes his natural disposition with a smart shot selection.

He is a thinking cricketer and fine tunes his stroke making according to what his team needs to do. The young hard hitter from England has certainly shown glimpses of what’s in store by putting up a couple of scintillating performances of 162 and 112 against the ordinary Sri Lankans in his own backyard. Why this new English Prodigy is catching more eyes is because of his performance abroad. His performance in recently concluded ICC World T20 played an instrumental role in taking his side to the finals. His knock of 78 against the New Zealand in the semi-finals completely vindicated all the applause he has been conferred with. He is a refreshing commodity and would be an overwhelming surprise for the English fans who were appalled from the orthodox bookish cricket.

Jason fits perfectly to this new looking England side that really looks menacing under the captaincy of Eoin Morgan. He is a modern cricketer, aggressive, powerful and unorthodox. He has those wonderful get out shots in case the pressure mounts up during a spell. His character has also been one of the most attractive aspects of his game. Most of Roy’s impressive innings have come when England was asked to chase and being an opener, the onus is on him to provide the platform and infuse confidence in the dressing room.

Besides like every successful national team in the current era, it was very important for this English Side to have someone in their top 3 who can wear his super-hero jacket at times when they are asked to clamber upon a steep target. And right now Jason Roy seems to be enjoying that role. Though it would be too early to answer on whether England has finally found their answer to the top order problems, but Jason Roy certainly seems to be the new prodigy who can go on to make a name for himself as a permanent England opener in the limited overs cricket.