Roland-Jones and Burns pushed for Lions honours

By Mark Baldwin

Gareth Batty, Surrey's captain and match-winner in a thrilling eight-run win against Middlesex in the London derby at the Oval, believes it is time for two of the young stars of the match to move up to England Lions level.

Both Middlesex seamer Toby Roland-Jones, who took eight wickets in the match and featured in two superb last-wicket stands, and Surrey batsman Rory Burns, whose 121 and 217-run second innings partnership with fellow century-maker Arun Harinath changed the course of the game, are foemr England off spinner Batty's picks for higher honours.

Batty took six for 83, including the vital last wicket of Roland-Jones, as Surrey avenged the three-run defeat to Middlesex at Lord's in April, and it is victory that puts his team 15 points clear of eighth-placed Lancashire and 16 points ahead of bottom side Worcestershire (although they still have a game in  hand) in the ongoing County Championship first division relegation dogfight.

He also paid tribute to his spin partner, the Indian slow left-armer Murali Kartik who bowled 44 overs unchanged from the Vauxhall End on a nerve-jangling final day to take 3 for 91 overall and help to dismiss Middlesex for 245 as they chased 254.

Middlesex, however, recovered superbly from 101 for 7 in the morning session to come agonisingly close to their win target, with Steven Crook hitting a spirited 67 in a 96-run stand with debutant Adam Rossington before Roland-Jones' tenth wicket alliance with Tim Murtagh, which eventually realised 48 runs in 29 tense overs and took the match to the wire.

"It was a remarkable game on a good cricket wicket," said Batty. "Middlesex played their part in what was a great contest, and I'm just glad we came out as winners in the end. I'm not sure how we would feel now if we had not won it after getting them seven wickets down for just over 100.

"This is hopefully a very important result for the club, in the context of our season, and especially as two of our younger batsmen hit those hundreds to turn the game around for us. Everyone at Surrey is working their socks off to take the club forward after what has been such a traumatic time following the tragic death of Tom Maynard, and I believe we are on the right track and we are going to win more games of cricket yet this season.

"Our two young batsmen were outstanding in this match, and Rory Burns at 21 is in the sort of form that should be attracting the Lions, while Roland-Jones bowled some high-class stuff throughout and is clearly another young player who should be pushing for Lions selection."




Date: 19/08/2012 08:00:00 by MBaldwin
In: Today | Surrey | Middlesex |