England opener Jason Roy has been warned he needs to regain his form in the upcoming ODI series against South Africa or he risks missing out on another World Cup campaign.
Roy played a crucial role in England's 2019 50-over World Cup win, smashing four fifties and a hundred in seven innings, but the 32-year-old has been struggling for form recently. He endured a lean summer last year, scoring just 76 runs from 98 balls in six T20Is and 121 runs off 143 balls in six ODIs.
That was followed by a poor showing in The Hundred, where he managed just 51 runs off 51 balls in six innings, and he was subsequently axed for England's T20 World Cup winning campaign.
And Roy has so far been unable to get back to his best, averaging just 13 in the three-match ODI series against Australia that followed the World Cup and scoring 100 runs off 109 balls in eight outings for Paarl Royals in the inaugural SA20.
As a result, former England bowler Steve Harmison has warned Roy faces being axed for England's 50-over World Cup defence later this year, with Jonny Bairstow set to return from injury and the likes of Will Jacks and Phil Salt impressing.
"With a World Cup around the corner, Jason's got to perform now," Harmison told talkSPORT. "He's had a lot of people question him and a lot of people back him and I back Jason Roy to go out and score some runs.
"For me, he plays in these three ODIs and probably gets a little bit of a bump in the summer, but when Bairstow's fit then the question marks will come and if Jason Roy's still out of form then there will be changes afoot. There has to be.
"He's a fantastic 50-over player, he's a World Cup winner, but there's only so long you can go for [on reputation and past performances].
"I still think there's a little bit of credit in the bank, but it's slowly going down and trying to get some form in these franchise [competitions] has been a little bit more difficult as well."
