Rayner has England potential – Emburey
Middlesex legend John Emburey says Ollie Rayner has all the tools to become an England player after the off-spinner wrote his name into the club’s record books.
Rayner returned the seventh-best match figures in the club’s history with 15-118 against Surrey at The Oval this week, becoming the first Middlesex bowler in almost 60 years to take 15 wickets in a match.
And former England spinner Emburey, who took 1,250 wickets over two decades at Middlesex, has backed the 27-year-old to follow in Graeme Swann’s footsteps by arriving relatively late at international level.
He also believes Rayner’s 6ft 5in frame and his batting and catching prowess would provide something different to England’s other spin options.
Emburey told West London Sport: “He’s worked on his action and if he continues like this, he’s got a great chance.
“He’s got good hands in the slips and he can bat well. He just needs to knuckle down, get fitter and continue to progress.
“There’s not a huge amount of competition in the spin bowling department and we’re waiting for someone to come out of the pack.
“I’d imagine England will go with Swann and Monty Panesar for Australia, but on pitches there his height would be a massive bonus as it would cause batsmen different problems, with the bounce he’d get.”
However, Rayner has played down talk of an England call-up and insists he is concentrating on taking wickets for Middlesex.
“I don’t really want to think about it to be honest. If it happens, great, if not, I won’t worry,” he said.
“It would be silly to look to what might happen when we’ve still got a couple of Championship matches left.”
The self-effacing Rayner admitted to being overwhelmed by the reaction to his heroics at The Oval, which bettered any figures ever returned by other Middlesex greats such as Phil Edmonds, Phil Tufnell and Alan Moss.
He told West London Sport: “It’s been incredible – most of those guys have taken more than a thousand First Class wickets so to be up with them is special.
“There’s so many pitches that are batsmen or seamer friendly so when a turner comes along you have to clean up when it matters.
“I’ve done a bit with the bat but I wanted to do more with the ball – although I don’t think I’ll be beating 15 any time soon!”
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10/09/2013 @ 9:12 am
A splendid performance from OP Rayner which will never be forgotten. Quite often, it is batsmen and seam bowlers who garner the plaudits but it is heartening that there is still a place in the game for match-winning spin bowling performances.