Middlesex head to Uxbridge Sports Club on Sunday for two fixtures over the week ahead, the first of which sees Worcestershire visit Park Road for an LV= County Championship Division One match.
Having gone six games without defeat this term in the Championship, Middlesex lost their unbeaten record at the seventh time of asking to a strong Yorkshire side up at Headingley in their last four day clash.
The Seaxes will be hoping that this timely visit of Worcestershire provides them with the perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways in the four day format, against a Three Pears side who must still be reeling having been beaten inside two days in their last first-class encounter against Warwickshire.
Whilst currently sat at the foot of the table, and whilst many pundits in the game were dismissing Worcestershire's chances of avoiding an immediate drop back to Division Two of the Championship set up long before a ball had even been bowled in April, their surprise victory over Somerset earlier in the season has seen them stay in touch with the sides above them to date, narrowly trailing both Nottinghamshire and Hampshire by just a few points.
With quality within their squad of the likes of Moeen Ali, Daryl Mitchell, Alex Gidman, Saeed Ajmal and Jack Shantry, it's hard to imagine that the victory over Somerset will be their only victory of the season.
Whilst Middlesex will undoubtedly go into Sunday's game as favourites, they'll need to be at their best over the four days, although they'll have to do so without the services of both Eoin Morgan and Steven Finn, both who are still with England. Neil Dexter is also out, being the latest addition to the Middlesex injury list, as is the influential Dawid Malan, who joins Dexter on the sidelines.
The squad is again boosted however by the inclusion of hard hitting Paul Stirling, who could well be in contention for a start on Sunday.
Injury Update:
Neil Dexter: Neil has left shin soreness, which was aggravated during the NatWest T20 Blast match on Thursday. He is being rested for this match and should be fine by the end of the week.
Middlesex has named the following 13-man Squad for the match against Worcestershire: James Franklin (c), Joe Burns, Nick Compton, Stephen Eskinazi, Nick Gubbins, James Harris, Tim Murtagh, Harry Podmore, Ollie Rayner, Sam Robson, Toby Roland-Jones, John Simpson, Paul Stirling.
Tickets can be bought on the gate on the day and cost £15 for adults, £10 for over 65s and £5 for under 16s. Middlesex members get free entry.
Parkinh is available in the field adjacent to the ground and costs £5 for non-members and £3 for members.
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