England opener Jason Roy revealed he spent the much of the night before the fourth ODI against Pakistan in a hospital with his baby daughter.
Roy smashed a match-defining 89-ball 114 – his ninth hundred in the 50-over format – which was studded with 11 fours and four sixes, as England took an unassailable 3-0 lead in the series after beating the visitors by three wickets.
Marks out of 1️⃣0️⃣ for this innings? 💯 pic.twitter.com/ybYnhSLB4Y
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) May 18, 2019
“It was a very emotional hundred. I didn’t see it coming,” Roy told the BBC after the match on Friday.
“I had a bit of a rough morning so this one is a special one for me and my family. It was my little one. We had to take her to hospital at 1:30 in the morning.
“I stayed there until 8:30am, came back for a couple of hours sleep and got to the ground just before warm-up and cracked on.”
[caption id=”attachment_106086″ align=”alignnone” width=”800″]""="" width="768px" height="432px" srcset="" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px"> “This is a special one for me and my family”[/caption]
Despite spending a sleep-deprived night at the hospital and following that up with a century, Roy, who also has registered scores of 87 and 76 in the previous two ODIs, believes he is still not in the form of his life.
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“I’m not in the form of my life,” said Roy. “It was not my most fluent of innings, but was it an extremely special feeling [to] get over three figures. I didn’t see it coming.”
England’s stand-in captain Jos Buttler lauded Roy’s efforts, and also gave credit to Ben Stokes for taking the side across the line with a brisk 64-ball 71*.
The winning moment as @benstokes38 brought it home!! 🙌
Scorecard/Videos: https://t.co/aHvdDRVXCl#EngvPak pic.twitter.com/30kIHtJBCK
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) May 17, 2019
“Jason played fantastically well and it is great to watch him in full flow. We had four really poor overs with some soft dismissals, but Ben Stokes [71*] played fantastically well, and for him to soak up that pressure and play so well will give him a lot of confidence.”
England will face Pakistan in the final ODI of the series in Leeds on Sunday.