Dele Alli’s cricket skills have gone viral on social media this week so it’s no surprise the Tottenham man has gained a few admirers among England’s players in South Africa.
Chief among them is Jason Roy, a Spurs fan who was left in awe by footage of Alli making a spectacular catch after deflecting the ball up off his foot during a game at Tottenham’s training ground that included the likes of Harry Kane, Joe Hart and Gareth Bale.
England’s cricketers have been banned from playing football after Rory Burns damaged ankle ligaments during a kick about before the second Test against South Africa in Cape Town in January.
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Yet Roy was impressed with Alli’s work in the “field” at Tottenham’s gym, even if the sight of Premier League footballers being allowed to play cricket left him with mixed feelings. “They’re doing it for us, rubbing it in a little bit,” joked Roy.
“I wouldn’t recommend going that way with the hard ball. It was a pretty special catch, actually. The boys got around it [the clip] quite a lot.”
England are back in Cape Town ahead of the start of tomorrow’s opening Twenty20 international against South Africa at Newlands.
It marks the start of preparations for next year’s T20 World Cup in India, for which Eoin Morgan’s team, who lost in the final of the 2016 tournament, will be among the favourites.
Having won the 50-over World Cup last year, Roy admits the prospect of becoming the first country to hold both titles simultaneously is an added motivation.
“I know what you are saying because you get that taste in your mouth don’t you?” he said. “I think it probably does play a huge factor. We know how tense these tournaments are, we have played in a World Cup final in T20s before. We know the pathway to that is very physically and mentally demanding. We know what we are in for. Now it’s a case of going out and having some fun.”
Competition for places in England’s T20 squad is intense, with the likes of Joe Root and Tom Banton not making the final cut for this three-match series in South Africa.
Roy, who missed last summer’s series against Pakistan and Australia with a side strain, is expected to open alongside Jos Buttler in his first T20 international since he faced South Africa at Centurion in February.
Yet he admits the pressure to perform is palpable. “I would 100 per cent be lying if I said I was not under pressure for my place,” said Roy. “The amount of talent that is around us – everyone is getting pushed to their limits. No one can rest on their laurels. It’s one of those amazing squads.
“In five years, I can’t remember this amount of depth. It’s mad, the amount of batters we have – the top six or top seven is quite frightening. It’s a great position to be in leading into a World Cup.”
That top seven for tomorrow’s first T20 is expected to see Dawid Malan, Jonny Bairstow, Morgan, Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali come in after Buttler and Roy. It’s quite a line-up and aside from Malan is made up of players who were part of England’s World Cup-winning squad last year.
That success was the culmination of four years of rapid progression and Roy believes there is a similar feeling building among the players ahead of the T20 World Cup.
“It is quite similar,” he said. “We have got a good foundation, we talk a lot about how we go about it, formulas, game scenarios. I think it has got quite a similar feel. It’s not quite as forced because the 50-over World Cup was something we worked towards for four years. But now you see England are playing way more T20 games so I think that’s a good indicator we are fully focused on it.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3m9T8z2
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