Toby Roland-Jones maintains remarkable hold over Hashim Amla on sun-soaked day at Lord's

NICK FRIEND AT LORD'S: This was the seventh time that Roland-Jones has taken the wicket of the great South African in 10 innings – a streak that stretches back seven years

Circumstances meant that Toby Roland-Jones and Hashim Amla had not met at the crease for four years until Surrey hosted Middlesex in a pre-season friendly at the Kia Oval at the beginning of April.

Three days later, however, the great South African batsman had been dealt a familiar reminder of his nemesis: trapped in front on the first and third mornings, for eight and 28.

Roland-Jones has only played four Test matches – and came up against Amla in just two of those. But inside a single week during the midsummer of 2017, he dismissed him three times in two England victories.

Two months earlier, they had done battle in a one-day international at Lord’s – the 153rd of Amla’s glittering career but the solitary ODI appearance to date in the cricketing life of Roland-Jones, whose last three summers since breaking onto the global scene have been decimated by injury trouble. Even then, in a comfortable victory for South Africa, Roland-Jones claimed Amla’s wicket.

A T20 Blast clash in 2014 remains their only contest when the axis of Amla and Roland-Jones has failed to materialise: on that occasion, he fell to Dan Christian for 39 in a Surrey win.

And so, to the second day of this County Championship derby at Lord’s, with Surrey fighting from behind after conceding a 114-run first innings lead on Peter Handscomb’s Middlesex debut, 532 days after initially agreeing a deal to become the club’s overseas player and captain.

^{Toby Roland-Jones celebrates dismissing Hashim Amla during the 2017 Test series}

Amla was called upon early once again, having watched Mark Stoneman fall to the last delivery of Ethan Bamber’s third over. But no sooner had he arrived, than Handscomb introduced his old adversary: Bamber whipped out of the attack for Roland-Jones with only a single ploy in mind, to maintain this remarkable hold over his man.

It took just one ball – full and straight, cannoning into the pads of the 38-year-old, who was sent on his way almost instantaneously by Neil Bainton. At his best, Amla was one of the most elegant stroke-makers to grace the modern game, a bona fide great of his era. Here, he looked a shadow of the run machine who averaged 60.33 across 11 Tests in England.

Not that Middlesex could care. The gleeful whoop that met the umpire’s approval came not only from Roland-Jones’ teammates on the field, but from the smattering of support staff who had assembled at the base of the Mound Stand. It was the appreciation of a plan coming together and the hunch of Handscomb, a new leader, being rewarded for his intuition.

Perhaps, too, the celebrations contained a measure of surprise that such an unusual quirk could rear its head yet again: the seventh time that Roland-Jones has taken his wicket in 10 innings – a streak that spans seven years.

For Amla, a four-ball pair – only the third of his first-class career and his first since September 2013, but a sign perhaps of his waning powers. This was a sixth lbw in seven innings and a third duck in five, albeit having begun the season with a half century against Gloucestershire at Bristol. For the sake of the twilight years of a fabulous cricketer, let’s hope there is a return to form before long, especially given his relationship with the Kia Oval, where he once made 311 against England.

^{Rory Burns looked in fine touch for Surrey}

Surrey fought back strongly in his absence, though, with England batsmen Rory Burns and Ollie Pope mixing defiance with a stylish counterpunch. But when Pope edged behind, Middlesex – the only side in the country to have lost both games so far – were in the ascendancy.

Pope was apoplectic in his frustration at himself, aiming an air-kick almost before the outside edge had reached the gloves of John Simpson, and then dragging himself from the field in a state of disbelieving annoyance.

Until that point, he had looked almost entirely untroubled, typically attractive in the process as he strolled to 32 on a slow pitch that hasn’t looked as though it should have produced 23 wickets in six sessions.

No one in this game has proven that point with greater clarity than Sam Robson, who came within five runs of making hundreds in successive Lord’s appearances – an achievement that would have gone against the grain of Middlesex’s struggles with the bat in recent times. He is hardly on his own among opening batsmen this year in having lapped up the unseasonal sunshine around the country, but his returns so far – 310 runs at an average of 62 – have been a fine fillip for a side looking to turn a corner in red-ball cricket under Stuart Law.

The wicket of Burns, therefore, will be key on Saturday. Middlesex did much of the hard work against Somerset a fortnight ago but were unable to press home their advantage when it mattered most. They ended the second day in St John’s Wood still in charge of this encounter though, with Surrey in need of partnerships and a captain’s knock from their England opener, who looked in tremendous fettle.

Amla, you sense, will just be happy to escape the clutches of Roland-Jones, who seemingly has an all-time great in his pocket.

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