Robson rises while Compton falls

Middlesex 203 for 3 (Robson 114*, Simpson 66*) trail Nottinghamshire 354 (Patel 86, Lumb 78, Hales 73, Roland-Jones 5-61) by 151 runs
Scorecard

For those stung by failure there are two schools in how to react: doubling down on the method that earned previous success, or trying to reinvent themselves completely.

Neither approach is perfect. Doubling down can be derided for arrogance and a refusal to accept reality; radically changing a previously successful method can suggest impatience and a lack of belief.

After failing to notice the warning signs before the 1929 financial crash, John Maynard Keynes reconfigured his approach and ended up as one of the most influential economists in history. After being dropped by England in 2000, when he averaged 25.06 after 27 Tests, Mark Butcher enlisted the help of his father to remodel his technique, and reemerged as a far more successful Test player.

Like Butcher's first stint in Test cricket, Sam Robson's initial returns for England - 336 runs at 30.54 apiece in the summer of 2014 - were middling, neither disastrous nor good enough to cement his place. His technique was picked apart mercilessly, although the main criticism was that he had a penchant for nicking off outside off stump, something hardly unique among opening batsmen.

Just as Gary Ballance has done more recently, Robson vowed that he would resist the calls to reinvent his game. "I know what works for me and I have my way. I've just got to try and stick to that," he said after those seven Tests. Robson has been as good as his words, trusting the strong foundations - above all his meticulous defence - that had earned him Test elevation in the first place.

Last season Robson must have been tempted to wonder whether he should more radically change his game. In 2015 he scored a disappointing 891 Championship runs at 30.72 apiece which, even allowing for some spicy wickets, was far short of the weight of runs needed to convince the selectors that he was worth revisiting.

A frustrating winter, in which he spent a couple of months injured after damaging his thumb playing grade cricket in Sydney, has been no impediment. In his opening game of the season, against Warwickshire, Robson made 231 and 106, breaking the record for the most runs in a first-class game by a Middlesex batsman. In the process he made such an impression that his skipper Adam Voges backed him to "knock the door down" and win England selection.

It remains unlikely that Robson will win a recall for the first Test of the summer against Sri Lanka, but he cannot be far off after another century, chanceless and still undefeated, lifted his season's tally at Lord's to 451 runs at 225.50 apiece.

Perhaps this was the most impressive of his three centuries so far in 2016. Robson had to confront a powerful pace attack including Stuart Broad, the world's number No. 1 Test bowler; Jake Ball, who showed the muscular action and nagging seam movement that have him on the brink of a call-up of his own; and Harry Gurney, who seemed the quickest of the lot. There were also cloudy skies and, with Middlesex 49 for 3 in pursuit of Nottinghamshire's 354, a perilous position for his side.

It was a challenge Robson rose to with skill, composure and assurance. He produced an innings in keeping with those he played for Middlesex all summer long in 2013, when his partnership with Chris Rogers was the best in the country and helped secure Robson an England call-up. After withstanding the first spells from Nottinghamshire's attack, Robson's pristine hooking, delicate fine cuts, and dexterous use of his feet to flick consecutive deliveries from Samit Patel to the midwicket boundary gave the impression of an England batsman playing for Middlesex, rather than a Middlesex batsman hoping to be rekindled with England.

"They've obviously got a really good attack so I just tried to get through the new ball and hang in there. I probably didn't always feel quite at my fluent best but we're in a good position as a team," Robson said. "I've probably changed a couple of little things over the last six to 12 months but generally I've stuck to my game and just tried to do the hard work. Thankfully it's been a decent start to the year." Robson does not do self-aggrandisement.

Nick Compton could only watch jealously on. The delivery from Brett Hutton that accounted for him seemed innocuous enough, a short-of-a-length ball on middle-and-leg of the sort Compton has clipped away thousands of time in his career. This time, though, was different: Compton missed. In the seconds after he was given out, Compton stood motionless, reflecting on how his England dream seems on the verge of dying for a second and, surely, final time. He only has 100 runs, for five times dismissed, this season: surely not enough, barring a magnificent riposte in the second innings here, to retain his cherished position as England's No. 3.

When Dawid Malan followed next ball, strangled down the legside, Nottinghamshire sensed a healthy lead. That was reckoning without John Simpson's crisp counterpunching, which included breaking a pavilion window with a straight six off Patel. Together with Robson, Simpson built a stand worth 154 in 47.3 overs before rain brought a premature end to the day.

So, after their earlier batting wobbles, Middlesex ended the day in the same spirit of contentment in which they had begun it when Toby Roland-Jones was polishing Nottinghamshire off. As he finished with 5 for 61, reward for persistence, pace, bounce and swing, it lifted his career record to 259 first-class wickets at 25.01 apiece, and prompted the thought: is there a current county bowler of higher pedigree yet to play an international?