5 things you may not know about England seamer Toby Roland-Jones

28 July 2017 06:08

Middlesex seamer Toby Roland-Jones made a stunning impact with his first spell in an England shirt, taking out South Africa's top four in an inspired stint at the Kia Oval. Here, Press Association Sport looks at the paceman in more detail.

GIVING IT BOTH BARRELS

When Roland-Jones stepped onto the pitch on Thursday he became the first England player with a double-barrelled surname since the Second World War. Norman 'Mandy' Mitchell-Innes made his solitary appearance at Trent Bridge in 1935, also against South Africa. Rory Hamilton-Brown, formerly of Sussex and Surrey, was an England Under-19 captain but never progressed to the senior ranks, while Kent's Daniel Bell-Drummond has played for the England Lions and could yet make the grade.

HAT-TRICK HERO The 29-year-old took the limelight in spectacular fashion as Middlesex claimed the 2016 County Championship title in the final session of the season. With 6.1 overs left, Middlesex still needed four Yorkshire wickets to claim the silverware. Steven Finn took one but Roland-Jones finished things with three wickets in as many balls, seeing off Azeem Rafiq, Andrew Hodd and, finally, Ryan Sidebottom, to cue wild celebrations.

UNIVERSITY CHALLENGE Roland-Jones started out with Middlesex as a junior but did not quite make the grade and focused on education instead, accepting a place studying accountancy and management at Leeds/Bradford University, where his brother Olly captained the cricket team. A growth spurt saw him progress from batsman to beanpole bowler and the rest is history.

FOOTBALLING FAMILY Cricket may have provided Roland-Jones with a route to the top but the family's first sporting star was uncle Steve Moran, a striker who played for Southampton, Reading, Leicester, Exeter and Hull, as well as England Under-21s.

HOLD OVER HASH With no disrespect to Dean Elgar, Heino Kuhn or Quinton de Kock, there is no doubting who Roland-Jones' prize wicket was on Friday: Hashim Amla, owner of 106 Test caps, 26 hundreds and more than 8,000 runs. Amla also provided him with his first international wicket in May, when Roland-Jones played his only ODI. If he can make it habit, he would be succeeding where numerous English bowlers have conspicuously failed over the years.

Source: PA