On Ollie Rayner’s own admission, his role at Middlesex is “not sexy”. Playing half of his matches at Lord’s, his duty is to hold up an end with the ball and contribute with the bat. But sometimes, when a pitch wears and he is allowed the opportunity to stitch some overs together, like he did against Hampshire on Tuesday, he can turn matches for his team.
For starters, he registered a first half-century of the season to earn Middlesex a third batting point and take their first-innings lead to 154. Then he allowed James Franklin to rotate his bowlers in the 30C heat by holding the Pavilion end upon his broad shoulders for 10 overs that saw only 11 runs scored.
James Harris produced a scintillating spell from the Nursery end to take the wickets of Michael Carberry (caught behind) and James Vince (bowled by a beaut) in the space of five quick, probing overs at the start of the afternoon session, to add to the pre-lunch wicket of Jimmy Adams.
And just as Hampshire started to claw their way back from the brink, Rayner pitched in with three wickets of his own, each celebrated more expansively than the previous one, to gut the middle order.
As Middlesex walked off for the day, trailing by 41 but with only three second-innings wickets to take, Franklin asked Rayner if he could recall the last time bowled 25-overs in a day. The sore fingers, said Rayner, said it all.
“As a spinner, you’ve got to stay in the game,” he said. “At Lord’s, generally, I’m playing a holding role and pick up a couple here and there. It feels great just to be amongst the wickets. I do enjoy my wickets.”
Rayner’s humour is evident, especially when discussing the tag people lazily cast his way – that of a tall German off-spinner who doesn’t impart an awful lot of spin on the ball.
While the 6ft 5in cricketer was born in that country through his dad’s commitments in the army, he does not consider himself German, a fact he had to relay to a Hamburg immigration officer who looked at his passport during a cousin’s stag-do and began conversing with Rayner in the national language.
And, a few of his balls turned on Tuesday – enough for Joe Gatting to play inside the line of one that continued its line up the slope and into off-stump. “Oh that? That was the doosra,” Rayner added.
Adam Wheater’s counter-attacking half-century ensured Middlesex would have to bat again and with Gareth Berg more than capable of a hefty cameo, there may be a tricky, three-figure chase on a baked pitch. Middlesex will hope the new ball, only four overs old, does the trick on Wednesday to ensure the target is a formality.
