By Andy Wilson
Jason Roy has been praised for the maturity and control he showed in his career-best 141 which fired England Lions to a 2-0 series lead against South Africa A under the Kimberley floodlights last night.
Roy smashed 13 fours and six sixes in his first Lions century but it was the shot selection of the explosive Surrey opener that especially impressed the Lions management.
“It was really pleasing to see Jason play so maturely because he was really controlled,” said Mark Robinson, the Lions head coach.
“We know he’s such a good striker of the ball but there have been times in the past where he’s been a bit frantic and lost his head. But this was controlled, aggressive and very clinical, and it was almost a shock when he got out in the end. It was a fantastic innings and we needed every single run that he got.
“It’s exactly the sort of thing you’re looking to see on a Lions tour, players showing that they’re learning and developing their games. I do think it was a significant innings for Jason.”
But like Roy himself, Robinson stressed this was not a one-man show, congratulating the team for holding their nerve in the field.
Even the formidable Lions total of 376 for nine, in which the captain James Vince scored 99 and shared a second-wicket stand of 198 in 26 overs with Roy, was looking vulnerable as Reeza Hendricks and Dean Elgar rattled up an opening alliance of 142 inside 18 overs.
But the introduction of Stephen Parry, the Lancashire left-arm spinner who arrived with Roy for the one-day section of the tour, proved significant.
He had Elgar caught at deep midwicket then bamboozled and bowled Dane Vilas, ending with 2-44 from nine overs – and he even bowled the only maiden of the match.
Roy said: “His change of pace was awesome.”
Robinson reflected: “They came at us hard with an outstanding opening partnership. It was a great wicket, a bit of dew made the ball come on even nicer, and at altitude the ball flies off the bat.
"They played exceptionally well. But then Stephen Parry came on and gave us a bit of control, Liam Plunkettjoined in, we had a bit of a partnership going and we slowly and surely made inroads into their batting.
“It was a great game and they’re the games you’re going to learn a lot because they put us under a lot of pressure, and it’s always nice when you come out on the right side.
“We’re really pleased because we made a couple of changes, one forced on us with Sam Billings being ill and secondly Boyd Rankin who we chose to give a bit of a rest, because he’s done so well on this tour and we felt he was a little bit jaded in the last game and we wanted to make sure he’s still fit and strong for the end of the series.
“So there will be some testing selection problems for the next one.”