Roland-Jones ready to ‘start from scratch’
MANCHESTER: Toby Roland-Jones has insisted his dream England debut will be put to one side when he next plays Test cricket.
The 29-year-old Middlesex seamer took eight wickets, including twice removing star batsman Hashim Amla cheaply, during England’s 239-run win over South Africa in the third Test at The Oval.
That left England 2-1 up in the series with just the fourth Test at Old Trafford, starting on Friday, to come.
But Roland-Jones, whose hat-trick against Yorkshire sealed Middlesex’s County Championship title triumph last season, knows that one good return is no guarantee for future success.
“I approach every game in the same way, I’m someone who looks to be as simplistic as possible in the way that I approach and my processes for bowling,” Roland-Jones told reporters at Manchester’s Old Trafford on Wednesday.
“It’s a case of reverting back to type, starting from scratch again and hopefully doing what I can to try and help the team win up here at Old Trafford.”
But after a heel injury to Durham fast bowler Mark Wood finally gave Roland-Jones his chance after he’d twice before been in the Test squad without getting a cap, he was understandably proud of his eightwicket debut.
“(It was) nice to have a day or so just to process everything,” he said. “Obviously winning a game in any England side is always going to be a pretty special feeling on debut.”
“From a personal point of view it was pretty exciting game to be a part of and I was pretty happy with the way that I performed.”