High five for puts England
TOBY Roland-Jones has joined a select category of England bowlers to take five wickets on debut, and earned the respect of an illustrious team-mate for his trouble. England’s all-time leading wicket-taker James Anderson had to settle for just three as he and Roland-Jones (five for 57) shared most of the spoils in South Africa’s 175 all out at The Oval. The tourists were 61 for seven at one stage but recovered, thanks principally to Temba Bavuma (52) before he was last out to Roland-Jones on a rain-shortened third day of the third Investec Test. There was still time for England to enhance their lead of 178 by a further 74 for one as Keaton Jennings rode his luck a little. And Tom Westley also needed some fortune as well as skill to keep the hosts in control, despite losing 59 overs to the bad weather. At stumps, Anderson reflected on Roland-Jones’ dream debut and Jennings’ and Westley’s success so far in following the firstinnings example of batsmanship from Alastair Cook and centurion JAMES ANDERSON
Ben Stokes. Anderson himself took five wickets on debut, back in 2003 against Zimbabwe at Lord’s, and on the eve of his own 35th birthday he was taken by the maturity of 29-year-old Roland-Jones.
“I was very impressed,” he said. “It’s not often you see a debutant settle as quickly as he did, and it was brilliant to see.
“He looked very comfortable and very confident. He knows his action, knows his game very well.”
Roland-Jones also had condi- tions to suit, with cloud cover throughout on Friday especially.
“It’s a perfect pitch for him,” added Anderson.
“He’s a very intelligent cricketer and he thoroughly deserved his five wickets.”
He expects Roland-Jones’ skills will travel well, if he is destined for next winter’s Ashes.
“Yes, definitely,” said Anderson. “He gets bounce, he can swing the ball, seam it, so he’s got all the attributes to do well in Australia.
“But he’s only one game in, so we’ll just take things one step at a time.”
Bavuma also had praise for Roland-Jones. “Definitely, you can see why he’s making his debut for England,” he said. “He definitely exploited the conditions and made use of everything that was out there. He’s a good bowler.”
Jennings’ unbeaten 34 was a relief after three runs in his last three innings, but Anderson reports the opener has not appeared careworn despite his struggles.
“He’s been pretty good,” said Anderson. “Sometimes you do see it in people when they go through a bad trot, you can see them strug-