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Toby Roland-Jones was born in Ashford but moved over to Middlesex in 2010, as he couldn't earn a contract with his former club. In fact, until his final year at the Leeds university, where he was studying Accounting and Management, a professional career in cricket seemed to be an unlikely option. However, the umpires who watched him bowl were impressed and put in a word with a couple of counties to help him win a contract with Middlesex. He picked up 36 first-class wickets in his initial season for Middlesex in 2010. The tall fast medium bowler continued to shine, snaring his first 100 first class scalps at an average of just around 20. His best season was in 2012, when he finished with 61 wickets. It helped him to get picked for England Lions, but soon was laid low with injuries. Roland-Jones then made a fine comeback in 2015, when he cracked an entertaining hundred against Yorkshire. The next season, he ended up with 54 scalps for Middlesex and bagged a dramatic hat-trick against Yorkshire to pilot the county side to their first Championship title since 1993. Roland-Jones is known in the County circles for regularly hitting the seam. If there is anything in the pitch, he invariably makes the ball talk, which was evident when he picked up a five-wicket haul on his Test debut against South Africa at The Oval in 2017. Interestingly, Roland-Jones is England's sixth \"hyphenated\" cricketer in internationals and the first one since 'Mandy' (Norman Stewart) Mitchell-Innes in 1935.
