Jason Roy has become a habitual record-breaker for England but insists he is merely taking “stepping stones” to the moments that count – in next year’s World Cup.
Roy admits the “heartbreak” of being dropped from last year’s Champions Trophy semi-final, and then having to watch England be knocked out by Pakistan, remains a driving force to put things right in 50-over cricket’s biggest global tournament.
Along the way, he is compiling a remarkable string of brilliant performances at the top of the order. The 27-year-old has recovered from some patchy form which followed his national-record highest one-day international score of 180 in Melbourne at the start of the year.
Roy’s latest century at Chester-le-Street, his second in three innings against Australia either side of making 82 in England’s new world-best 481 for six at Trent Bridge, helped the hosts ease past a ground-record target of 310 for eight and move to the verge of a first 5-0 ODI whitewash of their Ashes rivals.
For good measure, he and Jonny Bairstow took their century opening partnerships to five – more than any other England pair in the short format.
Roy hopes more than anything, though, that all those heroics prove appropriate milestones to a maiden World Cup title for England.
Most ODI 100s without playing a Test..
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) June 21, 2018
11 - Aaron Finch
5 - Jason Roy
4 - David Miller
3 - Colin Ingram/Kieron Pollard/Rilee Rossouw#EngvAus
“The records are fantastic obviously, and it’s a nice reward for the hard work we have put in,” he said.
“(But) our main aim is to make sure these are just stepping stones to the bigger picture – the World Cup.
“It’s great breaking all the records and stuff – but at the end of the day, the aim is to have this confidence come the World Cup.”
Roy’s England career has so far brought him 89 white-ball caps, and six ODI hundreds, but it has been far from seamless.
He completed a sequence of nine innings without a half-century when he was bowled for a second-ball duck last week by Billy Stanlake on his home ground at The Oval in the first match of a series which will conclude at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Self-doubt never kicked in, though.
“It was interesting hearing that I was struggling,” said Roy.
“I got a couple of 40s, and obviously those aren’t good enough as an opener.
“I felt pretty good in New Zealand, (but) just didn’t get a big score … I just wasn’t kicking on.”
He is disinclined these days to look even further back too often, to the misery of being left out of England’s team in Cardiff a year ago.
Nonetheless, the chastening experience – individually and collectively – continues to focus England’s minds on converting their world number one status into global silverware.
“As a kid I did look up to the Champions Trophy and wanted to play well,” he added.
“But I got dropped – and that was heartbreaking for me – so going away and putting in the hard work, I know I’m going to get my rewards. Let’s hope this time next year I’m at the World Cup, I’m in decent form and can win some games for the team.”