Jason Jonathan Roy is an English cricketer who plays for England in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, and previously played for the Test team. In domestic cricket, he represents Surrey, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues, including for Gujarat Lions, Delhi Daredevils Paarl royals(SA 20) and the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League.

Born in South Africa, Roy moved to England as a child. He made his T20I debut in 2014, his ODI debut in 2015, and played for the Test team in 2019. He was part of the England team that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

Roy plays as a right-handed opening batter. He holds the England record for highest ODI score (180 against Australia during England's 2018 tour, and, along with Alex Hales, holds the England record for highest ODI partnership: 256* against Sri Lanka during their 2016 tour of England. He was the first batter to be given out for obstructing the field in T20I history.

Early career

Having moved to England along with his family from South Africa when he was 10 years old, he attended The Hawthorns School for a few years, then Whitgift School. Whilst at Whitgift School, he played with future Surrey Teammate and England test opener Rory Burns who is the same age as him. He also played for local club Reigate Priory Cricket Club within Surrey. He represented Surrey in age group cricket from Under-11 through to Under-19 and Academy level. He took part in the Surrey Under-19 tour to South Africa in 2007, where he 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 2008 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, against the West, Midlands and North.

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.

Domestic career

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 Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) Universities. Roy was selected for two of his team's four matches. 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 University Centre of Cricketing Excellence. 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.

Breakout year 2010

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.

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 four days later with 131 off 99 balls, helping Surrey defeat Leicestershire at Grace Road.

Indian Premier League

He played three games for Gujarat Lions in the 2017 IPL. For the 2018 IPL he played for Delhi Daredevils, for whom he scored a match-winning 91* in his first match. In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Delhi Capitals ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League. On 27 August 2020, Roy opted out of 2020 Indian Premier League due to personal reasons and as a result he was replaced by Australian all-rounder Daniel Sams. He was released by Delhi Capitals before the 2021 auction. Ahead of the 2021 Indian Premier League, he was signed by the Sunrisers Hyderabad as a replacement for Mitchell Marsh. In the 2022 IPL Auction, Roy was bought by the Gujarat Titans. However, he later pulled out of the 2022 IPL before the tournament started, citing the challenge of being in the tournament's bubble for a prolonged period of personal time.

England career

Cricket World Cup

In preparation for the 2019 Cricket World Cup, England agreed to warmup matches against Ireland and Pakistan; one ODI against Ireland, and a T20I and 5ODIs against Pakistan. Roy was initially in the squad for the first ODI against Ireland and the T20I against Pakistan, however, was withdrawn after suffering with a back spasm, he was left in the 17-man for the 5 match ODI series versus Pakistan. The first ODI against Pakistan ended in No result. Roy started the series in good form, hitting 87 and 76 in his first two innings. In the 4th ODI he was awarded man of the match after scoring 114, his 8th ODI century, after a "near sleepless" night spent in the hospital with his two-month old daughter. Roy missed the fifth ODI, after being given time off by the ECB to spend time with his daughter who was hospitalised a few days before. Roy was awarded the Man of the Series for his performances during the series.

In April 2019, he was named in England's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. On 3 June 2019, in England's match against Pakistan, Roy scored his 3,000th run in ODI cricket. On 8 June Roy scored 153 runs against Bangladesh at Sophia Gardens which is the second-highest scored by an Englishmen in World Cup cricket, second to only Andrew Strauss' 158 at the 2011 World Cup. During England's win against the West Indies, Roy re-aggravated a hamstring injury he had been suffering with early in the season whilst fielding during the first innings. This led to him not batting during the second innings and missing England's next 3 matches. Roy returned against India in a crucial match for England, who needed to win to keep their qualification fate in their own hands. Roy contributing 66 runs off 57 balls despite not being fully fit, helping England to a 31 run victory.

In the semi-final against Australia, Roy scored 85 runs off 65 balls before being given out caught behind by umpire Dharmasena, off a ball which TV replays and UltraEdge suggested he had not hit. England had already lost their review, so the umpire's original decision had to stand. Roy protested against his dismissal and failed to leave the playing area in a timely manner and he was subsequently fined 30% of his match fee and given two demerit points for dissent. On 14 July, Roy played in his maiden World Cup final against New Zealand. Roy scored 19 runs in England's pursuit of the 242 runs posted by the Black Caps. The match ended in a tie and went to a Super Over, where Roy was selected as England's third batsmen, although England did not end up losing a wicket. Roy ran out Martin Guptill who was attempting to come back for a second run, off of Jofra Archer's final delivery of the super over. New Zealand needed two runs to win the World Cup and would otherwise lose, hence the run out meant that England won their maiden World Cup.

Test debuts and The Ashes

In July 2019, Roy was named in England's Test squad, for their one-off match against Ireland at Lord's. He made his Test debut in the match, scoring 5 runs in the first innings and 72 off 78 in the second. He kept his place in the team for the first four Tests of the 2019 Ashes series, but was dropped for the fifth after a string of low scores.

2020-2021

Roy was part of the England team for the home ODI series against Ireland and Australia, but missed the T20I series against both Pakistan and Australia due to a side injury. In September 2021, Roy was named in England's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

2022

In 2022, Roy admitted a charge of "conducting himself in a manner which may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket or which may bring cricket, the ECB and himself into disrepute", and was banned for two international matches suspended for 12 months "dependent on good behaviour". The cause of the charge was unclear. At the same time Roy withdrew from the upcoming Indian Premier League auction to spend more time with his family.

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, though he turned down the opportunity in order to concentrate on cricket. On 7 October 2017, Roy married Elle Moore. They had their first child in March 2019. The couple welcomed their second child on 5 January 2022. He is a cousin of Dutch international cricketer Shane Snater.

International records

Roy was part of an opening partnership of 256 with Alex Hales against Sri Lanka in 2016, which was then the highest successful run chase without losing a wicket in ODIs. It is also the highest partnership for England for any wicket in ODIs.
Roy scored 180 (off 151 balls) and partnered with Joe Root for highest ever third-wicket partnership for England (to date), with 221 runs off 220 balls in an ODI against Australia on 14 January 2018 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.