ICC T20 WORLD CUP 2021

October 27, 2021

Jason Roy

Sheikh Zayed Stadium

England

Post Match Media Conference

England 126/2 (14.1) - Bangladesh 124/9 (20)

England 126/2 (14.1) - Bangladesh 124/9 (20)

Q. Another outstanding performance on the field. Woakes in particular didn't give them a sniff.

JASON ROY: Yeah, I agree, was there -- sorry to interrupt. Was there more to that? Sorry. I just wanted to say, yeah, I completely agree. His line and length has been perfect from ball one. On these sort of pitches as well, that sort of line, that sort of length, it's incredibly hard to get away as an opening batter.

So he's running it in and keeping it nice and simple for us and doing an incredible job job.

Q. What about Liam Livingston who also contributed to the bowl today?

JASON ROY: Yeah, he's been working extremely hard. It's been great having Moeen and Rash on the side as well, and he learns a lot from them and Jeetan Patel, our spin coach, as well, has been giving him some words of wisdom.

It's paying off for him. He's doing extremely well for us and holding up an average is extremely positive. Especially as the tournament goes on where the pitches might get a little bit harder against spin, who knows, he might have more of a role to play.

Q. How much did you enjoy your lengths?

JASON ROY: Yeah, a lot, mate. I think it's an area of my game I've been working extremely hard on on slow pitches against left arm spinners, spinners, and the angle as such. It was a big game for me to go out there today put all the hard work I've been doing into the nets into play. Credit to the bowlers but still, to knock it off, but yeah, very pleased.

Q. You looked like you were in complete control. Any spin issues that maybe that had been talked about in the past played in your mind; and that you put the hard work in and get the rewards, does that make it more satisfying?

JASON ROY: Absolutely. As a batsman, as a cricketer, you always have some darker thoughts going into your mind before the game: What if; this can happen; this can happen. But you just have to remind yourself that your training has been so good. I worked a hell of a lot against Liam Dawson in the nets. He's been bowling so much to me which has really helped my game.

So yeah, I've just got to keep reminding myself to do what I do in training, and things will be all right.

Q. The batting lineup, as well you just stuck with batter No. 3 rather than kind of pushing for net run rate. Do you feel you're into the groove now of the tournament and you just want to play your proper cricket?

JASON ROY: Yeah, I mean, that game against West Indies was a bit of kind of freak game for us, that was incredible and allowed us to get way ahead of our run rate. So that was slipping down. Didn't have anything against him; it was just the fact that we needed to boost it as much as possible. We would have got a booster again today. But yeah, we got our run rate up so it's just a case of winning.

Q. It looks pretty easy, Bangladesh to beat, what actually made the difference?

JASON ROY: Yeah, I don't think that's that fair. I don't think they are an easy team to beat. They have got some match runners in there, some extremely good players.

But we came out and we kept it very simple and stuck to what we do. We don't look too much into what a lot of other teams do. We make sure that everything in our camp is right and we're doing our roles right. And today was another day that we bowled extremely well and we were clinical with the bat.

Q. Obviously interesting to see that Bangladesh has played for the first time against England in T20 format. Since 2015 after that loss in the World Cup, England has changed a lot in the white ball format. What are your thoughts for the change behind England team since then, and what do you think Bangladesh team should also work on, especially the T20 format to become a better unit?

JASON ROY: I'm so far from being a coach; it's not even funny. So I'm not even going to sit here and try and say what they need to work on, what they don't need to work on.

In our camp, I can only talk about our camp, and our camp has been together since 2015 like you just said, and we've created bonds outside of cricket and on the field, which I think plays a huge part in traveling the world and playing good cricket. We understand our roles in the team as individuals and as teammates.

I know exactly what the lads are going on to perform, how they are going to perform, and they know how I'm going to perform. There's a lot of trust, a lot of friendships, but yeah, we are just a confident side that always want to get better.

Q. Is it also that you work for long-term planning?

JASON ROY: Yeah, maybe. I mean, that's the hierarchy above my pay grade, mate, so I'll leave it to them to keep working on that.

Q. Explain the thinking behind deciding to take a knee today because I gather it was being discussed last night and this morning.

JASON ROY: Yeah, it's an integral part of the way we play our cricket. Our team is extremely diverse with people from all over the world. It's only right that we support that and we support what they are going through.

Q. That kind of ramp over the hind leg, is that a shot you've been working on?

JASON ROY: Not really. I kind of had a feeling he was going to bowl -- it was a bit of a gamble, really. I had a feeling he was going to bowl a short ball. He had a little check down (ph), and deep square moved a little bit finer. So I just had a bit of a gamble and it paid off.

Q. Bangladesh played almost 52 dirt balls, are you surprised about Bangladesh's approach?

JASON ROY: Sorry, what was the last video question?

Q. Bangladesh played almost 52 dirt balls.

JASON ROY: Yeah, we bowled extremely well. Take nothing away from the bowlers. I don't think we took too much of a foot wrong. We took our catches and fielded and bowled really well. It was a pitch that was on the slow side, and if you bowled straight and on a good length, it was quite hard to get away. We got off to a great start with the bats and then just capitalized on a lower total.