Out-of-favour England opener Jason Roy has been handed a second shot at the Hundred by the Northern Superchargers and the new head coach Andrew Flintoff as a replacement player after the 33-year-old wasn't picked at the draft ahead of the fourth edition of the 100-ball competition. Roy, who was part of the title-winning Oval Invincibles squad hasn't been in great form of late since giving up the central contract last year and hence no team showed interest in him at the draft.
Roy averaged 17.11 scoring just 154 runs in nine matches and that might have played on the team managements' mind apart from the £100,000 reserve price. Since the reserve price is negotiable for replacement players, Roy made a good fit for the Superchargers after they were in need of a big name with Brydon Carse missing the tournament due to a betting ban. This will be the first season for Roy in a new team after three seasons with the Invincibles.
"I can’t wait to join Northern Superchargers. It looks like we’ve got a really good group forming and the thought of playing for Freddie’s team is pretty exciting," Roy said in a Hundred statement. "You watch a bloke like him smash it when you’re a kid and it’ll be fun to work with him. I’d have been disappointed to have missed out on The Hundred so I’m glad to have got an opportunity, and I’m looking forward to getting up to Leeds and enjoying the competition."
Roy will now have a busy summer after playing five games in the T20 Blast for Surrey as he is set to leave for the Major League Cricket (MLC) to play for the Los Angeles Knight Riders. The MLC stint might mean a late arrival for Roy at the Hundred before he leaves for the CPL to play for the Trinbago Knight Riders in September.
Apart from Roy, pacer Mark Wood had also withdrawn his name from the wild card draft due to the third Test against the West Indies clashing with the first week of the Hundred. Roy will form a powerful batting line-up for the Superchargers which features Harry Brook, Nicholas Pooran, Matt Short and Adam Hose.
Northern Superchargers squad for The Hundred 2024: Ben Stokes, Jason Roy, Nicholas Pooran, Adil Rashid, Harry Brook, Reece Topley, Daniel Sams, Matthew Short, Adam Hose, Tom Lawes, Matthew Potts, Graham Clark, Callum Parkinson, Ollie Robinson, Jordan Clark, Dillon Pennington
