England white-ball legend Jason Roy is in line to play his first first-class match for almost five years after being recalled to Surrey's squad for their County Championship fixture against Warwickshire starting May 9.
Roy was included as part of a 13-player squad which also includes England-capped players Dan Lawrence, Ben Foakes, Rory Burns, Matt Fisher and Dom Sibley. They will face a Warwickshire side which will likely feature New Zealand Test captain Tom Latham, who played for Surrey in 2023. ECB-contracted players Ollie Pope, Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith are unavailable for the match.
The last time Roy played in Surrey's red-ball side was in the 2020 Bob Willis Trophy, in which he featured in one match against Hampshire. Batting at No.5, he scored 4 and 14 as Surrey lost by an innings. From 87 first-class games in his career, Roy has an average of 36.46 and nine hundreds to his name.
"I'd love to see Jason go back and play some red-ball cricket for Surrey and become a full-time professional player again."
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) March 25, 2024
After Jason Roy missed out on a Hundred contract, @markbutcher72 explains why not playing any long form cricket can be detrimental to T20 batters 📉 pic.twitter.com/HiyfMDQRWh
He made his first-class debut for Surrey in 2010 against Leicestershire, scoring 76 off 65 balls in his maiden innings. In 2019, he was selected to make his Test debut against Ireland, and also played in four of that summer's Ashes Tests. At the time, he had played just three first-class matches since 2017, but was selected off the back of his white-ball performances. From his five Test caps, Roy returned a high score of 72 and an average of 18.70. He was dropped for the final Ashes Test of the 2019 summer.
Roy was an integral part of England's 2019 World Cup win, forming one half of a dominating opening partnership with Jonny Bairstow. He represented England in 116 ODIs and 64 T20Is, with 12 ODI centuries. Following a series of back spasms in the 2023 summer, with inconsistent form and injuries persisting over the previous 12 months, Roy was axed from England's 50 over World Cup squad in favour of Harry Brook. He was later dropped from England's central contracts list.
His opportunities on the T20 franchise circuit have also declined over the last two years, and he was passed over at the auction for this year's IPL having opted out of the tournament in 2020, 2022 and 2024. He also went unsold in the 2024 and 2025 Hundred auctions.
Surrey currently sit third in the Division One County Championship table having recorded a win over Somerset at The Oval in their last outing.
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