"Never 'will walk away from England'" - Jason Roy quashes reports of not wanting to play for national team to feature in MLC
England white-ball specialist Jason Roy has clarified the speculations of walking away from his central contract to play in Major League Cricket (MLC) this summer. The right-handed batter has revealed that playing for England remains his priority, especially with the 2023 World Cup looming.
According to the Daily Mail, Roy has been offered a two-year deal by the Los Angeles Knight Riders worth approximately £300,000. The South Africa-born opener reportedly wanted to play for the Knight Riders despite jeopardising his 2023 World Cup spot later this year in India.
Please read. https://t.co/FrKWhUn1aM
Taking to his official Twitter handle, Roy stated that his heart lies in playing for England for as long as he can and is not walking away from the team.
"Following a bit of unwanted speculation over the last 24 hours, I wanted to clarify that I am not and never 'will walk away from England'. Representing my country continues to be my proudest moment as a professional cricketer. I hope to play for England for many more years, that remains my priority," said Roy.
The 32-year-old revealed having conversations with ECB about MLC with the condition that the board doesn't have to pay me for the remainder of the contractual year.
"I've had clear and supportive conversations with the ECB about participating in Major League Cricket. The ECB were happy with me to play in the competition as long as they didn't have to pay me for the remainder of the contractual year," Roy added.
The ECB offered an incremental contract to Jason Roy in October 2022, given he hasn't established himself in the Test arena. However, the right-hander's poor form meant that he was omitted from England's T20 World Cup squad that lifted the trophy last year. He returned to the side during the away ODI series against South Africa this year.
Although, Roy has terminated his incremental contract to participate in MLC, the ECB have utmost faith in the batter's priority to England Cricket.
"It benefits me as an England player to play as much competitive cricket as possible" - Jason Roy
Given no scheduling conflicts with England currently, Jason Roy conceded that he wants to keep playing to remain in the fray to play in the World Cup.
"As a single format player with no central contract I wanted to take the opportunity to play this competition as there are currently no scheduling conflicts with England," said Roy."It benefits me as an England player to play as much competitive cricket as possible. Just to be very clear, my priority is England cricket, especially with a World Cup soon upon us. It is for me and for any player the greatest honour to receive a cap to play for their country."
Roy is likely to be in action in September when New Zealand visits England for four T20Is and as many ODIs.