England offer discarded opener Jason Roy chance to be World Cup injury reserve

England have offered discarded opener Jason Roy the chance to make himself available as an injury reserve for the World Cup, but accept his selection heartbreak may be too tough to overcome.

Roy, a crucial part of the trophy-winning 2019 side, was named in a provisional group of 15 for next month’s tournament in India but found himself squeezed out by Harry Brook when the final squad was announced on Sunday.

The U-turn came after Roy suffered back spasms that ruled him out of the recent New Zealand series, setting in chain a sequence of events that saw understudy Dawid Malan ink his name in at the top of the order and positioned Brook as the most versatile additional batter.

By axing a player with 116 caps and eight years of experience as a mainstay of the side, England showed a cut-throat approach to defending their 50-over crown and raised uncertainty over Roy’s international future.

He was offered the chance to join a second-string side for three ODIs against Ireland but turned that down after receiving the crushing news from skipper Jos Buttler over the weekend. National selector Luke Wright made it clear that England still view Roy as an option for the World Cup should one of their top three be ruled out, but that is an olive branch that may not be accepted.

Roy lost his T20 place before another World Cup last year, cancelled the remainder of his central contract to play Major League Cricket in the United States this summer and may instead find himself weighing up the benefits of retiring from England altogether.

“As you can imagine, he’s absolutely gutted and I wouldn’t expect anything else. I feel for him, as I feel for anyone you leave out,” said Wright.

For Jason now, I'm sure he's got some thinking to do over the