All you need to know about Toby Roland-Jones
July 7, 2016: Almost a year ago, before the Lord's Test, the England selectors sat together to pick a Test team to play Pakistan, and Middlesex seamer, Toby Roland-Jones, earned a maiden call-up while Gary Ballance, the dour Yorkshire batsman was recalled to the Test side. Ballance eventually got to play and made 6 and 43 while Roland-Jones was left out in favour of Jake Ball.
July 1, 2017: As England get ready to take on South Africa at Lord's they decide to recall Ballance to the Test side and also pick Roland-Jones in the squad. Recent murmurings from the England camp, however, suggest that Roland-Jones might miss out on a debut yet again with surprise selection, Liam Dawson, expected to make the playing XI.
A year ago, Roland-Jones took his omission with grace. The Middlesex seamer returned to County Cricket and continued to do what he does best - take wickets and whack the ball a mile.
Born in Ashford, West London, Roland-Jones started out as a hard-hitting batsman before realising that he had the physique and mindset of a fast bowler. He was picked by Middlesex in 2009 after a few trials and in 2010, despite the team faring pathetically, he finished with 36 wickets at an average of 19.
61 Championship wickets in 2012 made him Middlesex's Player of the Year and also earned him some recognition outside domestic circles.
The maiden first-class hundred
Though batting was his initial forte, Roland-Jones failed to make his mark with the willow for Middlesex until that fateful game at Lord's. Having been bowled out for a paltry 106 and trailing by 193 runs in the second innings, Middlesex went on to rack up 573/8 courtesy of a spectacular effort from Roland-Jones.
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The hard-hitting lower order batsman had misread a signal from the dressing room and assuming a declaration was coming soon, went hammer and tongs, slamming the Yorkshire attack to all corners of the stadium. He made 103 by the end of the day and went on to pick up a five-wicket haul on the final day to complete a sensational come-from-behind victory for his team.
The 2016 Championship Finals
Roland-Jones made the headlines with a dream performance in the finals of the Division One Championship against Yorkshire at Lord's in 2016. Requiring 240 for victory in the final innings and on the final day, Yorkshire were cruising at one stage with Gary Ballance and Tin Bresnan looking increasingly comfortable at the crease. Roland-Jones sent back a dangerous looking Bresnan for 55 setting the stage for a blistering performance.
"It was the toughest experience I’ve had,” Roland-Jones said as quoted by Wisden. “The pressure, the crowd, the TV – it was all on the line. I was fielding in front of the Middlesex hospitality box and never looked up once – I just took deep breaths and kept looking at the ground. I wanted to try and find a way."
And find a way he did. At 174/6, with 66 required in six overs, Yorkshire had next to no hopes of winning the Championship. But a draw would mean Somerset would be crowned champions. Only a win would give Middlesex the crown.
And then Roland-Jones took his long, 20.1m run-up and etched his name into the history books. A sensational hat-trick saw Yorkshire disintegrate for 178 as Roland-Jones ended with figures of 6/54, gifting Middlesex their first Championship title since 1947.
Squeezing into the setup
The Test call-up would have eventually arrived, given that Roland-Jones was a constant point of discussion in England selection meetings. He did make an ODI debut in the recently concluded series against South Africa but a Test call-up still looked unlikely. However, injuries to Chris Woakes and Jake Ball prompted England to turn to the Middlesex seamer.
With the Curran brothers, Jamie Overton and Tom Helm all on the radar of the selectors, and Woakes and Ball automatic picks when fit, 29-year-old Roland-Jones, the first double barrelled cricketer for England since Norman Mitchell-Innes in 1935, might be overlooked yet again.
However, he is not disheartened. “I want to be the guy who’s there when it counts, the guy the captain knows he can turn to. If I’m judged at the end of my career as someone who pitched in when it mattered, I’ll be a very proud man.”