Toby's Turnaround Is Not Co-incidental

AFTER two years of injury hell, Toby RolandJones is back – and so too are Middlesex.

- Charlie Talbot-Smith

Those two facts might just be coincidental, but as the man whose hat-trick won them their last county crown, it’s fair to say Roland-Jones and Middlesex’s fates go hand-in-hand.

Stress fractures had slowed Roland-Jones’ influence over the last two years, largely sidelining him in 2018 and pushing his England debut heroics further back into the recesses of history.

In that time, Middlesex went from being county champions in 2016 to relegated and, for much of the early going of this summer, near the bottom of the heap.

But this month, the 31-yearold has hit his straps again – at last – with 19 wickets and two fifties across back-to-back wins in the County Championship over Gloucestershire and Glamorgan.

All of a sudden, a promotion push is back in the offing – and Roland-Jones cannot contain his delight. “It has been a special feeling. Particularly that first game at Merchant Taylor’s (against Gloucestershire) – I really felt like I was getting back to where I have been before, or certainly closer and closer,” he said.

“That was quite a satisfying day and quite emotional for me, coming back and rekindling those feelings of playing a big part, taking wickets and being part of a win. That meant a lot, to be able to do that again after being out for so long.”

Consecutive stress fractures, first at the end of 2017 and then again early in 2018, kept him on the sidelines. But the seamer never lost hope that his day would come again.