England opener Jason Roy, who has not played international cricket since early 2023 after being dropped, has come out in the open and revealed how shocked he was at the treatment he was meted out by the ECB.
Roy won one white-ball ICC tournament with England: the 2019 World Cup. He scored 443 runs at an average of 63.28 in a victorious campaign for his team.
He and Jonny Bairstow opened ferociously for England in many matches before the latter ran into a bad patch and lost his place. It wasn't long after that that he was done away with, too. Of course, a lack of consistency and back issues did play a role.
"When I got dropped before the World Cup [in 2023], it took a huge chunk out of me, mentally. It feels like yesterday that I got that call from Jos. It's a long time ago now, but I've had to overcome a few things, so it's gone very quickly.
{{/usCountry}}"When I got dropped before the World Cup [in 2023], it took a huge chunk out of me, mentally. It feels like yesterday that I got that call from Jos. It's a long time ago now, but I've had to overcome a few things, so it's gone very quickly.
{{/usCountry}}"It was something I was looking forward to, had worked hard for, and I'd come out the back of some bad form and scored hundreds in the two series leading up to it.
"The back spasm came at a really bad time. The communication around that injury wasn't great, and then I was dropped. It took a lot out of me as far as 'who do I trust?' You have played so many games for a team, and then suddenly… that is just the way it is," Roy told ESPNcricinfo.
Epic betrayal!
Roy revealed how he was promised a place in the World Cup squad, how he was asked not to rush back to cricket since he was nursing a back issue. That did not happen. Even after the World Cup, he was assured he would be back for a West Indies tour. That didn’t transpire either.
"I was told through the back spasm and everything, 'don't worry about it, don't rush back'. It was a quick series against New Zealand, a week or so. I could have played the last game at Lord's. The night before, I told the guys I didn't know how I would pull up. I couldn't just strap it up. But I was running in the warm-up and Jos asked 'so you're sweet?' I said yes, but they said don't worry about it because there's the Ireland games that I could play if I wanted to.
"It was heartbreaking. That game was Friday, then Sunday morning I got the call. It was tough to take.
"The amount I played for England, what we had done for England as a squad. To just be shifted aside … that was the hard thing. There was a West Indies tour after the World Cup. I was told I'd get a phone call, that it wasn't the end. As heartbroken as I was, I wanted to crack on.
"And then I saw on social media that the squads were out for the West Indies and I wasn't in. No call had come. That didn't sit that well with me. I had honest conversations with Jos and Luke Wright [then national selector]," he said.
"I forced their hand. I messaged… I said I felt I deserved a little conversation around the direction you're taking things. And then we had the conversation. I was like, 'cool, that's sweet - I understand it'. There's unbelievable talent coming through, we've got young players that are gunning it and I understand. I've got to go away and perform.
"That would have been lovely because I wouldn't have got so low. I wouldn't have felt like I had trust issues, I wouldn't have felt I couldn't trust anyone.
"I'm not that person to sit here and slag people off, and it is what it is. But it was a real shame and it affected me for a lot longer than I wanted it to," he added.
However, Roy, a veteran of 5 Tests, 116 ODIs and 64 T20Is, is not rattled anymore. He has reconciled with a lot of things. At present, the 35-year-old is playing franchise cricket all over the world. He has recently played in the UAE, Nepal and Pakistan and is now focusing on the Blast and The Hundred this year back home.