Jordan Cox was determined to grasp England T20 chance after Test heartbreak

Jordan Cox admits he “really struggled” to cope to with the injury blow that ruined his chance of a Test debut with England – and was never going to let his white-ball comeback go the same way.

Cox ended 10 months away from the international stage with a fiery knock of 55 as England defeated Ireland by six wickets in Malahide to take their T20 series 2-0.

The 24-year-old had been inked in for the three-match Test series against New Zealand last December, only for his big moment to be dashed when he broke his thumb in the nets.

His ill-fortune opened the door for Jacob Bethell, whose eye-catching displays have seen him leapfrog Cox across all three formats.

Having bided his time for another chance, Cox gave a timely glimpse of his ability in a 35-ball stay that included four sixes and four fours.

Revisiting the challenges he had overcome to get his shot, which saw him seek out the services of an independent sports psychologist, he said: “I really struggled after New Zealand.

“To have the opportunity to play for your country in Test cricket is something that I always dreamt of doing, and am still dreaming about doing, so to get that taken away was really hard.

“My friends and family, the people closest to me, said it would have happened for a reason. If that means I wasn’t quite ready to play Test cricket yet, that was someone telling me I wasn’t ready.

“There’s a reason why I didn’t play; there was a reason why Bethell did and why he did so well. But I really struggled with it.”

It briefly looked as though Cox’s bad luck had struck again when he limped from the field after jarring his knee while sliding to catch Ross Adair.

But the notion of giving up his spot once again never crossed his mind.

“There was no chance I wasn’t going to bat because I might have to wait for another two years,” he said.

“Getting into this team is pretty tough. Hopefully it will be fine but I don’t actually know as I’ve not seen physio yet.

“I’m not going to let the opportunity to play for my country go because I’ve got a sore knee. Just deal with it, battle on.”

Cox rebuilt his confidence this summer with a headline-stealing tournament at Hundred champions Oval Invincibles.

He was the competition’s top run-scorer by a street with 367 and plans to continue channelling the easy-going approach that brought him that success.

He said: “I seem to do well when I’m in that Oval shirt, so why not try and do it everywhere?

“It’s only a ball coming down, don’t worry about it. Whoever’s bowling it, just have a bit of fun and show what you can do. So that’s what I tried to do here.

“Hopefully New Zealand (England’s next white-ball tour in October) is calling but what will be, will be.”