Australia seamer Josh Hazlewood has cast doubts over whether England opener Jason Roy’s technique will be suitable for the challenges of red-ball cricket.
Roy has been one of the most explosive limited-overs openers in the game for some years now and the right-hander’s displays in the recent World Cup have seen him earn a maiden Test cap against Ireland.
He is now set to open for England in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston beginning on August 1 after registering a scratchy 72 in his debut match against Ireland. Hazlewood, however, remains unconvinced about the Englishman making a successful transition to Test cricket.
“We’ll see how Roy goes in Test cricket. He’s has only played one Test match and it’s a lot different opening the batting in a Test than a one-day game, that’s for sure,” Hazlewood said.
“In England, opening is probably the toughest place to bat, which probably made Alastair Cook’s record all the better. To play attacking cricket in those conditions is tough.”
The Aussie bowler cited the example of ODI skipper Aaron Finch’s failure in the Test series loss to India last year as a cautionary tale for Roy.
“Aaron Finch found it tough last summer against a quality India attack on wickets that didn’t do too much, to be honest,” Hazlewood stated.
“I think he found it a big step up, to be honest. He found the ball swung and seamed around and the wickets were a lot different to a one-day wicket.
“He’d played a lot of his four-day cricket at five or six and I think Roy is the same at Surrey. It’s hard to bat five at a level below and then open in Test cricket. We’ll see.”
In 84 first-class matches so far for Roy, the right-hander has managed to score 4,722 runs at an average of nearly 39 with the help of nine centuries.
