England’s Chris Jordan echoes captain Jos Buttler’s rallying call of support for out-of-form opening batsman Jason Roy ahead of Sunday’s T20 series decider against South Africa
- Bowler Chris Jordan has backed England batsman Jason Roy to come good
- England face South Africa in the T20 series decider on Sunday in Southampton
- New white-ball captain Jos Buttler has also publicly supported Roy
- Roy has scored just 59 runs in five 20-over internationals this summer
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Chris Jordan has backed Jason Roy to put a miserable sequence behind him in Sunday’s T20 series decider against South Africa at the Ageas Bowl.
Roy’s 22-ball 20 in Thursday’s 58-run defeat at Sophia Gardens took his haul in five 20-over internationals this summer to 59 runs off 80 balls – a strike-rate of just 73. His ODI form has been little better.
But England’s white-ball captain Jos Buttler, who is still searching for his first series win, backed Roy after the Cardiff match, arguing he simply had to ‘trust himself’.
Chris Jordan has issued a rallying call of support to his England team-mate Jason Roy
Roy has struggled for form this summer but will keep his place for Sunday’s T20 decider
And Jordan insisted his team-mate was ‘the type of character to come through it’.
He added: ‘We in the dressing-room back him 250%, because we know that when he’s on song he’s a real match winner. Don’t be surprised if he comes good on Sunday.’
Another Roy failure in Southampton, however, may sharpen the selectors’ minds ahead of England’s seven-match T20 series in Pakistan starting in September.
After that, only three games in Australia stand between Buttler and his first World Cup in charge.
At some point, Lancashire’s Phil Salt or Yorkshire’s Harry Brook may need to get a run of games if Roy’s decline proves terminal.
Jos Buttler (left) is hoping to claim his first win as England’s new white-ball captain on Sunday
Meanwhile, Jordan’s excellence at the death this summer – a skill he appeared to have mislaid during last year’s World Cup in the UAE – has at least addressed an issue that former captain Eoin Morgan regularly identified as one of his team’s failings.
Not only is the 33-year-old Jordan touching 90mph, but he has relocated the yorker that first earned him an IPL deal in 2016.
‘It’s one of those balls that, even if the batter knows it’s coming, I try to focus on my execution,’ said Jordan, who conceded only three runs in the 18th over at Bristol, and just four in the 20th in Cardiff.
‘It’s nice to be touching 90. I can also have a little bit up on Jofra [Archer] at the minute as well.’
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