Jason Roy Rubbishes Claims Of Terminating ECB Contract To Play In Minor League Cricket

England batter Jason Roy admitted that he had supportive conversations with the England and Wales Cricket Board regarding his MLC stint.

New Delhi: Jason Roy has rubbished claims that he is going to terminate his contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on order to play in the lucrative Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States that is set to start next month.

The 32-year-old Roy, who recently played for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2023, has been linked with Los Angeles Knight Riders in the inaugural MLC. However, several media reports claimed that Roy is going to terminate his incremental contract to play in the United States.

Roy took to his social media to break his silence on the ‘unwanted speculation’. “Following a bit of unwanted speculation over the last 24 hours, | wanted to clarify that | am not and never will ‘walk away from England’,” Roy said in a statement.

“Representing my country continues to be my proudest moment as a professional cricketer. | hope to play for England for many more years, that remains my priority,” added Roy, who has played 116 ODIs, 64 T20Is and 5 Tests for England.

Please read. pic.twitter.com/FrKWhUn1aM

— Jason Roy (@JasonRoy20) May 25, 2023

Roy admitted that he had supportive conversations with the ECB regarding his MLC stint. “I’ve had clear and supportive conversations with the ECB about participating in Major league Cricket.

“The ECB were happy with me to play in the competition as long as they didn’t have to pay me for the remainder of the contractual year. As a single format player with no central contract I wanted to take the opportunity to play this competition as there are currently no scheduling conflicts with England.

“It benefits me as an England player to play as much competitive cricket as possible. Just to be very clear, my priority is England cricket, especially with a World Cup soon upon us. It is for me, and for any player, the greatest honour to receive a cap to play for their country,” he added.