England vs Pakistan: Toby Roland-Jones ready to take his chance after belated call-up

Toby Roland-Jones missed the call from James Whitaker informing him of England selection – but, at the age of 28, the Middlesex pace bowler could have been forgiven for thinking that it was never going to come anyway.

Should he make his debut at Lord's on Thursday, Roland-Jones will become the first double-barrelled England player since Norman ‘Mandy’ Mitchell-Innes, a cricketer who, ironically, made just a single Test appearance, against South Africa in 1935.

That anomaly should already assure Roland-Jones a rightful place in an end-of-year quiz but after six seasons of consistent achievement in county cricket, the man himself will be hoping to pose some searching questions of his own for the Pakistan tourists on his home ground next week.

Roland-Jones has taken 30 wickets at a cost of 29 for Middlesex so far this season, after claiming 48 scalps last season and 43 the year before. They’re hardly the figures that scream selection but then the understated Ashford-born quick isn’t one for shouting and balling, he prefers to let his bowling do the talking.

“For someone that doesn’t bowl express pace it has always been about finding consistency, that’s what can really notch you up the ladder – you need to find that consistency in a match and then back it up across the season,” he says.

“Middlesex was always my county although I wasn’t an avid county fan. I can’t remember the first game I ever watched at Lord's and to be honest my attention levels weren’t great.

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“I would end up playing alley cricket while the Test match or county match was on. The batsmen would be making hay in the middle in the sunshine and I would be playing in the shadows under the stands with my mates.”

There will be precious little time for that should Roland-Jones pip Jake Ball to the final bowling slot for the opening Test of the series, although he certainly won’t be short of supporters inside the ground as Lord's prepares to welcome Pakistan for their first trip to the ground since the ill-fated match in 2010 that thrust cricket onto the front pages for all the wrong reasons.

That same year, Roland-Jones had made a low-key Middlesex debut in the tranquil surroundings of The Parks, home to Oxford University.

It was a performance the previous summer, for Bradford and Leeds University against Cardiff at Lord's in the final of the 2009 MCC Universities Challenge, though, that ultimately shaped his career.

“Gus [Angus Fraser] was there and watched me take a few wickets,” he says. “Once I came out of University, I was trialling with Middlesex and Surrey – I did a week at one and a week at the other to try and give me a chance to impress both as much as possible. That performance at Lord's probably contributed to Gus showing a bit of faith in me and signing me as well.

“I suppose I am a bit of a late developer. I didn’t sign a professional contract until I was 21, turning 22. I was at university with no summer contract when I was there. I was still quite young and new to bowling when I signed, but Middlesex obviously saw something that was worth investing in.”

It’s lucky they did because Roland-Jones readily admits that his degree wasn’t likely to open too many doors.

“My degree was in accounting and management,” he says. “That was probably one of the poorer choices of my career so far, picking that. I didn’t finish it. It was far too hard for me. It wasn’t ideal. I should have been more sensible. I learnt one thing there and that was that level of education was a bit too far out of my grasp.

“That said, that grounding did me an appreciation of what I’ve got. I’ve always considered myself lucky, not because I don’t deserve this, but because I’m just lucky to be where I am. I probably always felt I had worked hard to get myself to this point.”

It’s an attitude that has already carried Roland-Jones a long way. Unlike Mitchell-Innes, he’ll hope it will help him stretch his international career well beyond a solitary Test.