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Jason Roy has opened up on his struggles at the top of the England batting order in the Ashes, saying Australia’s attack is the best he has faced.
Roy is hopeful that a move down the order to No4, with Joe Denly taking his opening slot, will help after four straight single figure scores.
The 29-year-old was selected to open on the back of a sensational World Cup, but he does not bat at the top of the order for Surrey on the rare occasion he plays Championship cricket and he has struggled in his new role.
“On a personal note, my form has been quite frustrating,” he said. “I knew that opening the batting in Test cricket was going to be completely different to one-day cricket, but I have found it really difficult. “Coming straight into the Test arena off the back of the World Cup — feeling mentally and physically drained — I have been trying to learn on the job and work out my method while playing.
“I have been going out to bat, facing a few balls and thinking, ‘This is working’ and then I’ll get a good ball, or a drive ball that I nick, and you have to start all over again next innings.
“People have made their conclusions, saying, ‘He’s not a Test player’ and this sort of stuff. I think I am and can be and so moving to down the order to No4 for this Test, mentally, it’s a lot more comforting. You get a bit more time to ease into an innings.
“That’s not to say it’s going to be easy. This is comfortably the best attack I’ve ever faced. They have a relentless group of tall, fast bowlers, who all operate at or close to 90mph. They are so consistent, they don’t seem to ever miss their areas.”
Australia resumed today on 170 for three after they had the better of an opening day affected by rain and wind. Steve Smith, back after missing the Third Test due to concussion after being hit on the neck in the Second Test, continued to frustrate England and was 60 not out when play began on day two.
Roy is not the only England batsman to have struggled against the Australians. Joe Root’s side were bowled out for 67 in their first innings at Headingley and won the match thanks to the second-innings heroics of Ben Stokes.
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Before the Stokes show, though, England had shown more patience and determination against the tourists — and Roy urged them to follow this example here.
Despite receiving criticism for the manner of his dismissals, Roy is confident he can adopt the right approach. “The second innings at Headingley is 100 per cent our template going forward,” he said.
“In an ideal world, you’d want one or more of our batsmen to go big with Stokesy, to push for the big 400, 450-plus totals and it would be amazing if I could contribute and get a big score in these next two Tests. “We don’t want Stokesy’s effort at Headingley to be for nothing.”