Jason Roy

Early career

Having moved to England along with his family from South Africa when he was 10 years old, Roy was educated at Whitgift School and represented Surrey in age group cricket from U-11 through to Under-19 and Surrey Academy level. He took part in the Surrey Under-19 tour to South Africa in 2007, where he notably top-scored for Surrey with an innings of 51 in a one-day match against Western Province Under-19s.

He was a member of the 2007 intake of players to the Pemberton Greenish Surrey Academy, and on 15 June 2007 made a decisive contribution on his one-day debut for the Surrey second team, scoring 48 from 33 balls in a Second XI Trophy match against Hampshire which Surrey won by 3 runs.

Roy made no further appearances for the Surrey second team in 2007, but was selected to represent the South at Under-17 level in the ECB Regional Festival, held at Loughborough in July 2007, where he played in three matches.

In the 2008 season, Roy established himself in the Surrey second team. In his debut in the Second XI Championship, Roy scored 88 from 89 balls against a Hampshire attack which included the South African Test match bowler Nantie Hayward, having come to the crease with Surrey in trouble at 89-4.

He made his debut for the Surrey first team in a Twenty20 Cup match against Middlesex on 27 June 2008, and made his List A debut in the Natwest Pro40 League fixture against Yorkshire on 20 July 2008, the day before his 18th birthday.

He was used as a substitute fielder for England's test team against South Africa in the final test of the 2008 series at The Oval.

In September 2008, Roy was selected for the ECB Elite Player Development squad taking part in a triangular tournament against University Sport South Africa and MCC Universities. Roy was selected for two of his team's four matches. In his first match, against University Sport South Africa, Roy batted at number four but was only able to score a single run. His second match was disrupted by the weather and was declared a no result in the thirteenth over of MCC Universities' innings, which was being bowled by Roy.

In 2008, Roy won the Easter Scholarship to spend the 2008/2009 winter at the Darren Lehmann Academy in Adelaide. While in Australia, Roy also played club cricket for Port Adelaide Cricket Club, and was part of the team which won the XXXX Gold Grade 20/20 Competition, scoring 20 runs from 12 balls in the final played at the Adelaide Oval. This was the club's first victory in the competition.

In April 2009, Roy played in a pre-season match for Surrey against Leeds/Bradford UCCE. Batting at number five, Roy was dismissed for a duck in Surrey's first innings, but fared better with the ball, taking 2 wickets for 51 runs from five overs.

In spite of his promising performances for the Surrey second team the previous year, Roy was unable to win a place in the team at the beginning of the 2009 season. However, on 25 April 2009, he reminded the county selectors of his ability while playing for his club, Reigate Priory, in a 50-over per side match against the Surrey Second XI. He took a catch as Surrey were dismissed for 157, and opened the innings for Reigate Priory, scoring 69 runs from only 51 balls against a bowling attack including former England international James Ormond before being caught behind. This innings was instrumental in Reigate Priory reaching their target of 158 with more than 22 overs to spare. On 23 May 2009, Roy scored 115 off 88 balls in Reigate Priory's victory over Spencer in the Surrey Championship Premier Division.

Selected for Surrey to play against Warwickshire in the Under-19s County Championship at Whitgift School on 6 July 2009, Roy scored 129 from 106 balls in a drawn match. Following this impressive performance, Roy made his first appearance of the season in Surrey Second XI's match against Somerset at Millfield School on 14 July, scoring 20 in Surrey's first innings. Roy retained his place in the team for the friendly match against Yorkshire Second XI in Guildford on 11 August. Roy top-scored in Surrey's second innings with 45, although Yorkshire won by an innings with a day to spare.

Roy's next appearance for Surrey Second XI was on 18 August against MCC Universities in the Second XI Championship. Playing on familiar territory at Whitgift School, Roy scored 118 from 115 balls in a drawn match. On his return to the one-day team against Kent on 24 August, Roy top scored in Surrey's innings with 55. However, this promising run of form was abruptly ended in the Second XI Championship match against the same opponents which began the following day. Roy recorded a pair, although he took a catch in Kent's second innings.

Better performances for his club (including an aggressive 138 from 60 balls against Henley) and the county Second XI in September 2009 led to a recall to the Surrey first team for the NatWest Pro40 League fixture against Leicestershire on 27 September 2009. Roy opened Surrey's innings but scored only 6 runs. However, Surrey won the match by four wickets. This was to be Roy's first and only competitive match for the Surrey first team during the 2009 season.

Breakout year

Roy began the 2010 season as a regular in the Surrey Second XI in both Championship (three-day) and Trophy (one-day) cricket. After an unremarkable start to the season, Roy made his first significant contributions to the team in May, scoring centuries in three successive Championship matches, against Essex, Sussex and Durham respectively. While he scored a greater number of runs against Essex (180) and Durham (120), the innings against Sussex was perhaps the most impressive. In Surrey's second innings, Roy batted at number five and came to the crease with the score 42-3 against a bowling attack containing internationals Yasir Arafat and James Kirtley. When Roy was dismissed for 104, the score was 260-5, setting the platform for Surrey's victory. Roy's century was the top score in Surrey's second innings.

Roy maintained his form with a century for Reigate Priory, but as the county schedule turned to a long period without Championship matches, he had no opportunity to continue the run. However, he had caught the attention of Surrey's Cricket Manager, Chris Adams, and was included in Surrey's senior team for the 2010 Friends Provident t20 tournament, making his first appearance against Hampshire on 22 June, scoring 12 runs at a strike rate of 109.09.

The following day, Roy made history by scoring an unbeaten century against Kent (101 from only 57 balls), the first century scored by a Surrey batsman in Twenty20 cricket, as Surrey won the game by 38 runs.

Roy earned further plaudits with another aggressive innings against Somerset on 2 July, scoring 74 from 50 balls in another Surrey victory.

Surrey did not progress beyond the group stages of the 2010 Friends Provident t20, and Roy's personal performances also dipped towards the end of that competition. However, he continued to score heavily for the Second XI and appeared for the Surrey first team in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition between July and September, the highlight being an innings of 60 from 49 balls against Sussex in a tied match on 4 September. During the match, Roy enjoyed a partnership of 105 runs in 17 overs alongside Surrey's new signing, England international Kevin Pietersen.

He made his first class debut on 24 August 2010 against Leicestershire at Grace Road, and was last man out in Surrey's first innings, scoring 76 runs off 65 balls (including 9 fours and 3 sixes) in Surrey's first innings total of 483. The last four wickets fell for only 7 runs, preventing Roy from scoring a century in his maiden first class innings. In his second first-class match, Roy scored 69 against Glamorgan on 7 September 2010 and retained his place in the team for Surrey's final County Championship match of the season against Gloucestershire. By the end of the 2010 season, Roy was established as a first team regular in all forms of cricket, and signed a two-year contract with Surrey, which he described as "a dream come true".

2011 season

Although he ended the 2010 season as a first team regular and demonstrated his fitness in prior to the 2011 season (coming top in the Surrey squad's pre-season Bleep Test), Roy was only selected for one pre-season match in the first team, scoring 0 and 4 against Middlesex. Surrey had strengthened their batting resources over the preceding winter, confirming the long term signing of Kevin Pietersen, as well as bringing in new batsmen Zander de Bruyn and Tom Maynard, and Roy began the season in the Second XI.

However, Roy was included in the first team for the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition and made an immediate impression, scoring 60 runs in his first match, against Scotland, and 76 against Hampshire. Roy scored another half century in the return fixture against Scotland. He made his first County Championship appearance of the season on 4 May against Leicestershire, and although he was dismissed for 5 in the first innings, he scored an aggressive 76 in the second innings as Surrey set the platform for victory. This innings equalled his highest first-class score at the time.

Roy was rested for the Championship match against Essex on 18 May as Surrey included their centrally-contracted international players, Kevin Pietersen and Chris Tremlett, but in the following match, against Glamorgan on 24 May, Roy returned to the first team. After an inauspicious first innings in which he scored only three runs, Roy took his maiden first-class wickets in Glamorgan's second innings, returning bowling figures of 2/29. He then opened Surrey's second innings and scored his maiden first-class century (an unbeaten 106 from 109 balls), guiding Surrey to a comfortable draw. He brought up his hundred with a six struck into the pavilion.

On 17 August he scored his first 40 over century, making 101 off 95 balls against Warwickshire at Edgbaston. He followed this up 4 days later with 131 off 99 balls, helping Surrey defeat Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Roy's season ended in fine style, being part of the Surrey side who won the CB40 final at Lord's against Somerset. Although Roy's day wasn't a personal success - being dismissed for a typically aggressive 11 immediately before a rain delay - he could at least be content that, as the second highest run scorer in the competition he had played a significant part in Surrey's progress to that stage.

On 29 September 2011, Roy was named by the ECB in the England Performance Programme Squad for 2011-12.

England Career

Roy made his Twenty20 International debut against India in September 2014 and was dismissed for 8 in his first international innings. He made his One Day International debut for England against Ireland on 8 May 2015, but the match was abandoned due to rain.

Roy was then selected again to represent England in the five-match series against New Zealand, in June 2015. In the first match, he was out caught from the first ball of the innings. Despite this, England went on to post a score 408 and went on to win the match. In the second ODI he made 39 but England went on to lose the match, which was affected by rain. England again lost the next match, with Roy this time making 9. He hit 38 in the fourth ODI as England went on to win by seven wickets to level the series at 2-2. He was out for 12 in the final match, which England won to win the series 3-1. In the only T20 match between the sides, Roy made 23 as England won by 58 runs.

Personal life

Roy took A-level examinations in Sports Science and Business in 2008, and was offered a place at St. Mary's University College. However, Roy turned down the opportunity to continue his studies in order to concentrate on cricket.