Jason Roy gets a shot to play the Hundred for Brave, replacing replaces Faf du Plessis who is undergoing groin operation.
Jason Roy handed Hundred lifeline with Southern Brave.
Due to his recent success for Surrey, Jason Roy has been given a substitute position in the Hundred, taking Faf du Plessis’ spot at Southern Brave. Due to an upcoming surgery on his damaged groin from the IPL, du Plessis has withdrawn from his £78,500 contract. Roy has agreed to take his position.
Roy, who turns 35 this month, has battled for runs in the competition, averaging 19.55 and hitting at 132.09 over three seasons. In 2023, he won the Hundred with Oval Invincibles. After going undrafted in the first place, Andrew Flintoff’s Northern Superchargers gave him a lifeline last season, but he missed all of the action because of a shoulder issue.
Earlier this year, he enrolled with a reserve of £63,000 and was again not draughted; nevertheless, he has found his form again in the T20 Blast for Surrey. Roy began the season with three half-centuries in five innings in his new position at number three. Although he hasn’t scored more than thirty since, his 301 runs at a strike rate of 141.98 have been sufficient to secure him a replacement contract in the Hundred.
Roy will take over for du Plessis, 40, who joined the Delhi Capitals, the IPL team co-owned by the new owners of the Southern Brave, GMR Group, as a straight signing prior to the March draft.
This month, Du Plessis has been playing Major League Cricket with the Texas Super Kings, but he has decided to use the Hundred window as a chance to have groin surgery.
Ahead of Tuesday’s “wildcard” selection, in which each Hundred team will choose four players—two men’s and two women’s—based in part on their Blast form, Roy’s contract has been finalised. After returning to T20 cricket after an 11-year break, James Anderson, who has never played in the Hundred, is in the running for a contract after taking 13 wickets in six games for Lancashire.
Finn Allen, who had a foot injury at MLC and will miss New Zealand’s forthcoming T20I tri-series in Zimbabwe, is another player that the Southern Brave are worried about being healthy. Despite missing the previous season due to a toe injury, Allen was kept on a £52,000 contract earlier this year after scoring 240 runs in nine innings for the Brave in 2023.
James Vince will remain captain of the Brave, who were losing finalists the previous season, and they have kept the backbone of their team. Adi Birrell has replaced Stephen Fleming as their men’s coach for the 2025 campaign.