ADAM LONDON reckons he must become a genuine all-rounder to establish a place in the Middlesex side.

The Sunbury left-hander impressed in the Panthers’ pre-season games with 55 in the drawn game with Sussex at Hove, and 47 in the one-day victory over Essex at Chelmsford, where he shared a match-winning stand of 120 with Neil Dexter.

London followed up with an unbeaten century for the county’s second XI against Hertfordshire.

Yet, despite this heavy scoring, the 20-year-old faces a tough road ahead if he’s to make his County Championship debut, with other Middlesex starlets Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan and Billy Godleman still ahead of him in the pecking order.

Consequently, London has been working hard on his off-spin bowling to increase his selection prospects.

He said: "I think in the modern game as it is now you’ve got to have more than one string to your bow.

Batting is obviously my main strength, and I’d like to think I’m close to getting into the first XI, but the off-spin bowling would be a massive asset if I could pick that up a notch.

London, who fell in love with the game from the moment his dad took him to Sunbury, aged just five, knows he couldn’t have a better role model in the art of slow bowling than skipper Shaun Udal.

He added: "Shaun is a perfect tutor in that sense. He’s been having a little word in my ear here and there about my bowling giving me a few tips and that, so I’m trying to take it all on board."

However, while London sets about polishing up his off-spin, his efforts with the bat, along with those of fellow youngster Sam Robson, haven’t gone unnoticed by Udal.

He said: "Adam London has been a sensation all pre-season. He has come on in leaps and bounds. Probably he and Sam Robson have been the ones who given the opportunity have grabbed it and gone on and got runs.

"They have to go on and do that consistently in the second team. It’s been one of the things we’ve emphasized that when you get in you’ve got to get big runs.

"They’ve got a long way to go yet but they’ve made a good start."