If Jason Roy is selected in England’s squad for their one-day series against New Zealand, this was not a bad way to prepare. A different coloured ball, yes. Different coloured clothing, yes. But a sixth first-class career hundred was scored with a freedom that would not compare unfavourably to Brendon McCullum’s swashbucklers.
Roy will hope to add to his one T20 and one one-day international cap during the next few weeks, though that is not the extent of his international ambition. He wants to play Test cricket. A few more innings such as this 143 off 166 balls, including 19 fours and two sixes, and he will be very much on the right path to a middle-order position.
The 24-year-old’s second Championship century of the summer started in testing conditions late on day one and he took his time to settle in reaching 21 not out overnight. There was none of that on Monday, however. He went after the bowling almost immediately to dominate a momentum-shifting fifth-wicket partnership with Steven Davies. He reached his 50 off 80 balls, three figures off 34 more and hit his two sixes off Simon Kerrigan’s left-arm spin, one straight and the other over mid-off towards the Vauxhall End.
He scored 111 in the morning session, becoming the first Surrey player to score 100 runs or more before lunch in a first-class fixture since Ian Greig in 1990, also against Lancashire on this ground. Roy and Davies, who made a more measured 86, shared 236 inside 48 overs before falling within five overs against the second new ball to leave the score at 318 for six in the 85th during the early stages of the afternoon. Roy was caught at gully off Kyle Jarvis and Davies caught at first slip off Tom Bailey.
This is not a happy hunting ground for Kerrigan, whose only Test against Australia in 2013 ended so badly, but he was not alone in struggling as his seam bowling colleagues erred in line and length. Debutant Ben Foakes, the fledgling former Essex wicketkeeper, also prospered to reach 60 not out by the time play was halted for bad light and then rain at 4.40pm, sharing 78 inside 18 overs for the seventh wicket with Gareth Batty. Twenty-nine overs were lost to the weather. The obvious question is will Surrey declare before play on Tuesday?
