In the second ODI against Bangladesh, Jason Roy scored 132 off 124 balls to help his team win the series. He did this by following a predetermined strategy to attack the spinners with sweeps and reverse sweeps and by ignoring the “smoke” surrounding his batting form.
Roy’s ton broke the historic home record of seven unbeaten ODI series victories in seven years. While trying to reach 327, Bangladesh was quickly run out of the game for 194, and Roy’s innings was largely to blame.
Along with playing the standard sweep to take advantage of the slow bowlers, Roy got four boundaries with reverse shots off the left-arm spinners.
That was part of the strategy, according to Roy, to sweep and reverse sweep with the amount of turn. “The most secure course for me was to go above point. I made a few attempts to go over cover, but it was simply too slow and had too much spin. I made an effort to finish that promptly. I should have struck the sightscreen once Shakib [Al Hasan] had that undercutter, but I instead tried to sweep him [and fled].
Other from that, I believe you needed to keep your boundary alternatives pretty limited. It was a relatively bad choice. After you score a lot of runs, you are free to hit it wherever you want. The only choice I had for a boundary today was to knock the sweeps and reverse sweeps outside.”
Roy claimed that the Dhaka pitch favored the batters. Despite being slow, the spin was uniform, making strokeplay easier than in the first ODI when the pitch had an uneven bounce.
“In terms of batsmen’s skill set, scoring runs under these circumstances is the most satisfying thing that can happen. I’m overjoyed to have won.”
Jeremy Roy
That was obviously much simpler today, he claimed. “I only faced four balls the other day,” he remarked. “Yet, there was still a steady amount of spin. The bounce and turn were a little erratic the other day. Compared to today, it had much lesser scoring and a slow bounce. The boys must have displayed a lot of skill to give us that total, in my opinion.”
Roy talked about how it was a relief to score runs during this Bangladesh tour, especially after being dismissed early in the first game.
“Every time [getting a score of 100], it means the world. I really tried to make up for my mistakes from the first game. So, I made a stupid error, and I was eager to go running. When you reach 40, there are a few hundreds behind you, and when you reach 100, you feel incredibly liberated. Every line of division was a scrap. I had a fantastic working relationship with Jos [Buttler]. We moved along smoothly.
“Every location demands entirely distinct skill sets. None more so than in a place like this. In India, I have scored runs. In terms of batsmen’s skill set, scoring runs under these circumstances is the most satisfying thing that can happen. I’m overjoyed to have won. We scored a tremendous lot on that wicket tonight in a game that decided the series.”
When Dawid Malan scored his fourth ODI hundred in the first ODI, Roy said that he had learned from the left-hander. In essence, it prevented England from losing because Malan controlled the circumstances to drive the guests home.
Roy stated, “After I stuck that one up in the air in the first game, I realized it very quickly. “I soon realized that I needed to turn on, put in my head, and bat for a while after watching how Malan approached his innings.
“At the crease, there was only time. If I batted that long, I could score a lot of runs. Just like that. I cut the risk associated with boundary options. The boundary option I chose that carried the greatest risk was the one I chose to exit. I foolishly exited.”