England's centurion Jason Roy happy to knuckle down for the team

Englands Jason Roy believes he is adding an extra dimension to his game by knuckling down at the start of an innings The 27yearold long known as a brilliant ballstriker made a polished 120 as England beat world champions Australia by 38 runs to win the second oneday international in Cardiff on Saturday and so take a 20 lead in the fivematch seriesRoys innings and a typically quickfire 91 not out from standin captain Jos Buttler deputising after regular skipper Eoin Morgan suffered a back spasm shortly before the toss took England to a total of 342 for eight Australia opener Shaun Marsh made 131 on his Glamorgan home ground but the tourists were still bowled out for 304 with 17 balls to spareRoy struck an England ODI record 180 against Australia in Melbourne in January this year But after talking with England batting coach Graham Thorpe he rated Saturdays innings the best of his five ODI hundreds after his side were sent into bat in overcast conditions by Australia captain Tim PaineThat Roy has shown he can score hundreds in different styles will be a boost to England as they seek a maiden World Cup title when staging next years edition I had a long discussion with Thorpey just after I got out and said it was probably my favourite innings as far as the tempo of it the way I knuckled down early said Roy I went through some difficult patches but then came out the other sideWhen I wanted to start expanding my game unfortunately I got out but I was still happy Early dismissal is an occupational hazard for all openers and certainly for someone as attackminded as Roy The other side of life at the top of the order was there for all to see when he was out for a secondball duck at The Oval during Englands threewicket win in Wednesdays seriesopener But Roy was able to play himself in on Saturday while opening partner Jonny Bairstow made a dashing 42I was able to knuckle down and get myself in Roy said Jonny is great to watch isnt he at the moment Hes in some incredible form Roys latest century came almost a year after he suffered arguably the biggest disappointment of his England career when left out of the same Sophia Gardens ground for a Champions Trophy semifinal loss to Pakistan the eventual tournament winnersIts disappointing to be dropped at any ground said Roy Playing for England is a huge honourI wouldnt say being dropped in that Champions Trophy has anything to do with making any hundred feel any better than the next It was a big aim of mine to come back after a long winter and start well Just prior to this current series England suffered a shock sixrun defeat by Scotland in a standalone ODI in EdinburghObviously we had that hiccup against Scotland and then the first game of this series I was a bit panicky a bit wary of where my game was at Roy admitted But Ive put in a lot of hard work over the last two days and got a few rewards today This defeat was Australias seventh in eight ODIs but the form of Marsh was some consolationIts bittersweet said Marsh It was nice to get a few runs but we couldnt quite finish it off there at the end Obviously its a disappointing result for us he added ahead of Tuesdays third ODI in Nottingham We felt like we were in the game right till the end but unfortunately we just werent good enoughAlso Read Jason Roy And Jos Buttler Set Up England Win Over AustraliaCatch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever