After banking their first win of this year’s Royal London One Day Cup campaign today against Kent at Radlett Cricket Club’s Brunton Memorial Ground, Middlesex’s next Group B clash sees them heading down to the south coast tomorrow to take on a Hampshire side at the Ageas Bowl.
After initially getting off to a flying start against Sussex last Monday at home, where they smashed the Sharks bowling to all parts of the Ageas Bowl, Hampshire’s huge total of 343 for 6 saw them to an 87 run victory, however they then stumbled against Kent at Canterbury in their second group match, going down to the Spitfires by a margin of five wickets on Thursday, when failing to bat out their fifty overs and only posting a total off 233.
Whilst Kent may have got one over on Hampshire earlier this week, they were no match for Middlesex today, as Eoin Morgan’s men secured the first Royal London One Day Cup victory of this year’s campaign.
Winning the toss, Middlesex skipper Eoin Morgan didn’t hesitate to bat first on a good looking wicket, although his side could only manage to post a total of 260 for 9 in their fifty overs. How good a total that was would only become once the visitors had batted!
When the Kent innings could only yield 173 all out in reply, Middlesex’s 260 proved plenty high enough, as the Middlesex bowlers found all the right areas to claim regular wickets and dismiss a strong Kent batting line-up inside 42 overs to secure an 87 run victory.
Ollie Rayner was the chief protagonist for Middlesex with the ball, picking up 4 wickets with his off spin for just 45 runs from his allotted ten overs.
Whilst Hampshire may well be struggling to find their feet back up in Division One of the LV= County Championship, having taken up residence at the bottom of the table, their white ball form has been as impressive as ever so far this season, seeing them qualify for the knockout stages of the NatWest T20 Blast competition in third place in the South Group.
With the likes of Michael Carberry, James Vince, Jimmy Adams, Sean Irvine and Adam Wheater within their batting line-up, and with the quality of Yasir Arafat, Chris Wood, Fidel Edwards, Danny Briggs and Gareth Berg in the bowling unit, it will be no surprise to see the Southampton based outfit carry this form into the fifty over competition.
Tomorrow’s clash will therefore be another testing outing for Middlesex at the Ageas Bowl Middlesex name an unchanged squad for tomorrow’s clash with Hampshire and head to Southampton in high spirits and with plenty of optimism that they can build on their victory over Kent.
Middlesex Squad
Middlesex have named the following 14-man squad to play against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday:
Eoin Morgan (c), Nick Compton, Neil Dexter, James Franklin, Nick Gubbins, James Harris, Junaid Khan, Dawid Malan, Ravi Patel, Ollie Rayner, Sam Robson, Toby Roland-Jones, Gurjit Sandhu, John Simpson.
TICKET INFO
Important information relating to the Hampshire CCC v Middlesex CCC Royal London One Day Cup match at the Ageas Bowl on 1 August 2015 – “Cricket Live event”
All Middlesex supporters should be aware that on 1 August 2015, the day that Middlesex are playing Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl in the Royal London One Day Cup, the ground will also be hosting a Boyzone concert in the evening after the match. This event is called “Cricket Live”.
When purchasing tickets online through Hampshire’s ticket site, spectators are only offered the opportunity to purchase a combined cricket/concert “Cricket Live” ticket, priced at £40 (or £35 with early bird discount).
Tickets for just the cricket match are only available for Middlesex Members to purchase but are NOT available online. Middlesex Members ONLY can purchase tickets for just the Royal London One-Day Cup match, without the concert, and need to call the Hampshire CCC ticket office on 02380 475606, which is open Monday to Friday (and weekend match days) between 9am to 5pm.
Tickets for the cricket match are priced at £16 for adults and £11 for concessions in advance, or £21 for adults and £16 for concessions on the day. Middlesex Members who purchase tickets for just the Royal London One-Day Cup match are advised that they must depart the Ageas Bowl no more than one hour after the match ends, before the concert begins, or they will be contacted by Hampshire CCC and advised that they will be subject to charge for the concert too.
