Jason Roy admits he was ’emotional’ after returning to form with a hundred against South Africa

Jason Roy was “a little bit overwhelmed with some emotions” in the hours after a spectacular return to form for England in a loss against South Africa on Friday.

Roy has for years been England’s tone-setting trailblazer in cue-ball formats, but an alarmingly prolonged run saw him sidelined ahead of their T20 World Cup-winning campaign.

With those on the fringes like Will Jacks and Phil Salt eyeing opportunities, Roy’s ODI spot was becoming increasingly shaky, but he rewarded England’s faith with a buccaneering 79-ball century.

Jason Roy admits he was excited after a spectacular return to form for England on Friday

He was dismissed for 113 of 91 deliveries before England lost their way, collapsing from 146 unbeaten at 20 to 271 with 34 unused balls to lose by 27 runs in Bloemfontein.

But even though they fell 1-0 in the three-game series, Roy, who celebrated his 100th birthday with a big swing of the bat and a roar, admitted he was happy to end a forgettable few months.

“I feel great, I actually didn’t sleep that well, I had about five hours of sleep, I was a bit overwhelmed by some emotions and things like that, it’s been a turbulent few months,” he said.

“I woke up great, however it was the best five hours of sleep I’ve ever had.

Roy crushed an excellent hundred from 79 balls, before making 113 in England’s defeat.

It’s been a horrible year. (The celebration) was a bit of a rage around all of that just because I put everything in the back of my mind and put some things in a closet and go out there and play the game the way I’ve done throughout my career.

“I was frustrated that I hadn’t had that mentality before, but it was a really nice feeling.”

Roy pushed his career ODI average above 40 with his 11th hundred in the format, and only Joe Root, Eoin Morgan and Marcus Trescothick have achieved more among England batsmen.

But this was his first score of over 50 in 15 international innings, while he has averaged 12.5 in eight strokes in the SA20 this month, so Roy isn’t getting too carried away.

Roy endured a torrid run of form over the past year and was dropped from England’s T20 squad.

“Absolutely not, I don’t see it that way,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of games in my career, I’ve been here for a while and even after a bad year you can forget about it pretty quickly.

“It’s about keeping pushing, keeping this atmosphere in this culture that we have in the team because it’s a big year ahead for us in 50+ cricket.”

England will be defending their World Cup crown later this year and Roy, as one of the longest serving players under Jos Buttler, wants to help them go to India in the autumn with a rarity to go.

“I have to keep scoring runs and build this team up to where we were in 2019,” he added.

England are likely to make changes for Sunday’s second ODI at the same ground, with Jofra Archer and David Willey set to make way for Chris Woakes and Reece Topley.

He missed out on England’s T20 world triumph despite being a key player in recent years.