T20 World Cup: England hopes injured Jason Roy will be available for knockouts

Jason Roy is “unbelievably important” for England and the team hopes the injured opener can play some part in the knockout stage of the T20 World Cup, says Eoin Morgan

England’s Jason Roy walks off after pulling up while taking a run during the T20 World Cup contest against South Africa.

Jason Roy is “unbelievably important” for England and the team hopes the injured opener can play some part in the knockout stage of the Twenty20 World Cup, captain Eoin Morgan said on Saturday.

Roy retired hurt with a calf injury during England’s 10-run loss to South Africa in its final Super 12 match even though Morgan’s team still qualified for the last four as the Group I leader.

“It obviously didn’t look great, and we’ll wait until tomorrow to see what his movement is like,” Morgan said of Roy’s injury. “Probably send him for a scan and then go from there. Apart from that, can’t tell you much.”

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A visibly emotional Roy was helped off the ground and the 31-year-old was seen on crutches after the match. “Obviously we’re all hopeful that he comes through in some manner or there’s some remedy to get him through one, if not two games,” Morgan said.

“He’s unbelievably important. He’s a guy that epitomises everything that we are about in the changing room and the way that we play.”

‘Need to find ways to win’

England is bidding to become the first team to hold the 20-overs and the 50-overs World Cups at the same time and won its first four Super 12 matches before South Africa snapped that streak. “We are not going to be at our best every game but we do need to find ways to win,” Morgan said.

 

“I think in the field, actually, we weren’t as intense as we have been in previous games. Just small things that we didn’t do as neatly or as cleanly as we would have liked.”

Replying to South Africa’s commanding 189 for 2, England made 179 for 8 before being denied by Kagiso Rabada’s final over hat-trick .

Morgan was happy his lower-order batsmen finally got to spend some time in the middle. “Obviously one of your premium batsmen goes down, that does occur to you, particularly given the form that he is in,” Morgan said.

“On the other hand, you have guys that have not batted a lot in the tournament, came in, struck the ball really well, which is a great sign obviously for the semifinal.”