Last Tuesday, Ollie Rayner was cursing a tyre blowout that had forced him off the M1 and into the nearby London Gateway service station. Then, his phone rang.
On the other end was David Parsons, performance director for the ECB. It was, the Middlesex spinner was told, ‘important’.
And so it was, that while Rayner waited for a breakdown van to take him to off-season training at Radlett, he was offered the chance to get his own international career back on the road.
One tour with the ECB Performance Programme notwithstanding, the 28-year-old has waited a long time for England recognition.
But after a stellar end to the 2013 season, which included a record-breaking 15-wicket haul against Surrey, the 6ft 5in finger-spinner will be going to Sri Lanka with the England Lions, after Lancashire’s Simon Kerrigan failed to shake off a back complaint.
Rayner has genuine sympathy for the stricken Kerrigan – but having put in the hard yards last year to revive his career, he is keen not to waste this chance.
He told West London Sport: “I worked my socks off last season and totally remodelled things.
“I didn’t feel like I was spinning the ball enough. I wanted to create pressure by being aggressive rather than just bowling conservatively.
“I was getting very frustrated that things weren’t working. It got to the point where I was turning up at the academy just to spin a few balls against the academy lads.
“But I owe a lot to Middlesex, who helped me get back to where I was with a lot of hard work.”
The wickets eventually came, culminating in the magical few days at The Oval in early September where Rayner recorded match figures of 15-118, the best haul by a Middlesex bowler since Fred Titmus in 1955.
Lord’s legends John Emburey and Phil Tufnell talked up Rayner’s chances of playing Test cricket – something that just last spring, when he was struggling for wickets, seemed fanciful.
He was even told by the ECB at one point that he wasn’t in their plans, something which had a beneficial effect on Rayner.
He said: “It was a bit of a release for me. It allowed me to relax a bit and concentrate on doing well for Middlesex.
“Even now I just want to enjoy the ride, stay relaxed and do out there [in Sri Lanka] what I’ve been doing for Middlesex.
“I don’t want to try too hard to impress or think about bigger things to come.”
That is surely an allusion to the vacancy in the England Test team created by the retirement of Graeme Swann, who Rayner says showed him how potent orthodox off-spin could be.
While Kerrigan, Monty Panesar and Durham leg-spinner Scott Borthwick seem to be ahead of him in the queue, Rayner is now at least in the thoughts of the England hierarchy.
It’s about time, too. In 2008, while at Sussex, a more callow Rayner toured India with the England Performance Programme, alongside the likes of Jonathan Trott, Tim Bresnan and future Middlesex team-mate Eoin Morgan.
At that stage, he had just begun to emerge from the considerable shadow of Mushtaq Ahmed.
Now, the German-born spinner is hoping to tread the path of another spin legend in Swann.
Rayner said: “I’ve got a slight foot in the door but it’s still all up for grabs to anyone who starts the season well.
“No matter what I do in Sri Lanka, it’ll be good preparation for the season ahead with Middlesex and the fact I’m being considered [by England] is a nice feeling.”
This post was last modified on 10/03/2016