After completing their opening fixture of this season’s Royal London One-Day Cup campaign, against Hampshire at Radlett’s Cobden Hill Ground this evening, the Middlesex team set straight off for Bristol for their second outing in the competition against Gloucestershire at the Brightside Ground.
An encouraging start to events at Radlett saw Middlesex’s openers Dawid Malan and Brendon McCullum put on a century for the first wicket, before Malan fell in the fifteenth over. Despite McCullum then going on to hit his first half century for his new club, and Eoin Morgan also reaching a finely crafted fifty, Middlesex failed to capitalise on a great start and finished their innings just short of a three hundred total.
This was to cost them dear, as with the Hampshire reply on 12 for 1 the rain then arrived, and the thunder, the lightning, and a resultant lengthy delay as the ground staff mopped up!
A revised target of 202 in 26 overs was the net result of Duckworth Lewis’s calculations, and with Middlesex’s bowlers struggling with a damp ball and a wet outfield, Hampshire duly chased down their victory target.
Middlesex make only one change to their squad for the trip to Bristol, with Brendon McCullum stepping aside for Adam Voges, who will make one appearance for the Seaxes in the competition before departing to Sri Lanka with Australia.
His inclusion in the Middlesex side would make him available for the knockout stages of the competition after his return to the club later this year, should Middlesex progress from the group phase.
Gloucestershire themselves have finished on the losing side in both of their fifty over encounters to date this year, losing to Somerset by one wicket in their opening clash and to Glamorgan by 52 runs in their second.
With both Middlesex and Michael Klinger’s Gloucestershire side both looking for their first wins of the campaign, there’s a huge amount to play for in Bristol as both captains look to get their 2016 campaigns up and running.
Middlesex are pleased to announce the following 14-man squad to play against Gloucestershire at Bristol tomorrow, Wednesday 8 June:
James Franklin (c), James Fuller, Nick Gubbins, Tom Helm, Ryan Higgins, Dawid Malan, Eoin Morgan, Tim Murtagh, Ravi Patel, Ollie Rayner, Toby Roland-Jones, John Simpson, Paul Stirling, Adam Voges.
