Jason Roy makes surprise return to Surrey’s red-ball squad

England’s World Cup-winning opener Jason Roy has made a surprising return to red-ball cricket by being named in Surrey’s XI for their County Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston on Friday.

This marks Roy’s first appearance in the longer format since 2020, when he played for Surrey in the Bob Willis Trophy against Hampshire during the Covid-19-affected season.

The 34-years-old has a strong first-class record, with an average of 36.46 across 87 matches and nine centuries, including his career-high score of 143 against Lancashire in 2015.

However, he has not played red-ball cricket for nearly three years, with his last appearance in the format coming in the summer of 2020.

This match also marked the conclusion of his brief Test career with England, having played just five Tests in 2019 following his heroics in the 2019 World Cup.

Despite a promising start to his career, Roy struggled in Test cricket, averaging just 13.75 in eight innings against Australia, which led to him being dropped after one summer of international red-ball cricket.

Roy’s return comes at a crucial time for Surrey, as the team faces a depleted squad with England internationals Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson resting ahead of the upcoming Test series against Zimbabwe.

It is pertinent to mention that, thus so far, he featured in five Test matches for England, all during the 2019 summer, scoring 187 runs at a modest average of 18.47.

Roy has also represented national team in 116 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 64 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).