Middlesex head to the Oval tomorrow night, with their hopes of qualification in this season’s NatWest t20 Blast campaign all but over.
In what was a must win game for Middlesex at Lord’s last night, played in front of the largest T20 crowd of the season thus far, a strong Sussex side, led by the in-form Luke Wright, ended Middlesex’s campaign with a dominant performance that took the Sharks to the top of the South Group table.
Middlesex, in contrast, tasted defeat for the sixth consecutive match in the competition, and will go to their rivals Surrey on Friday with nothing but pride to play for in front of a packed Oval crowd. Middlesex’s defeat was made all the more painful when New Zealand overseas paceman, Mitchell McClenaghan, making his debut for the Seaxes, left the field in agony, with a badly dislocated and broken finger.
Tomorrow’s opponents, Surrey, have themselves resurrected their faltering T20 Blast campaign with recent victories over both Glamorgan and Gloucestershire, and will be looking to build on that success to continue their climb up the table.
If there’s any game that Middlesex can lift themselves for, it’s the London derby against Surrey, and Middlesex fans will be hopeful that whilst the campaign itself is over, pride will see the Seaxes deliver a strong comeback performance tomorrow in the Lions’ Den.
Middlesex name the following 13-man squad to play in the NatWest T20 Blast match against Surrey at the Kia Oval tomorrow night: Eoin Morgan (c), Andy Balbirnie, Neil Dexter, Nick Gubbins, Ryan Higgins, Dawid Malan, Ravi Patel, Harry Podmore, Ollie Rayner, Gurjit Sandhu, George Scott, John Simpson, Paul Stirling.
