Middlesex head into the first of five back to back Specsavers County Championship matches tomorrow when Somerset travel to the Home of Cricket.
With the visitors tasting defeat in three of their opening four clashes, Middlesex will be looking to get the first win of their season under their belts after drawing their first three four-day encounters.
Having sat out of two early rounds in the County Championship this term, Middlesex have only played three games to this point, whereas the top three sides in Division One, Essex, Surrey and Hampshire, have all played five and the remaining sides four.
Unbeaten Middlesex have a tally of 35 points from their opening three matches, and reside in sixth place in the table, With Somerset in eighth place, at the bottom of the pile on 20 points.
Middlesex’s Managing Director of Cricket, Angus Fraser, sees the next five weeks as a critical period in determining how the Division One table shapes up…
“It’s an important part of the season for everyone. We’ve had a bit of a slow start, in some ways, and especially in that we have only played three championship games so far whereas other sides have already played five.
“But, in other ways, we’ve done OK. We hung in well to get a good draw at Hampshire in our first match, we would have beaten Essex in the next match but for the weather, and then we were the dominant side throughout against Surrey.
“Since that game we’ve had a week or so off, and many of the players have gone away for a short break. But we’ve been back in training for the last few days so we are ready to go again – starting against Somerset tomorrow.”
Opener Sam Robson is still recovering from the hamstring injury he picked up early in the club’s Royal London One-Day Cup campaign, so sits out again, but there is plenty of hope that he’ll be fit to resume his partnership with fellow opener Nick Gubbins for Middlesex’s trip to Southport, where they’ll play Lancashire, between the 9th and 12th June. Matches at Lord’s against Yorkshire, then Essex and Warwickshire away complete the busy championship run.
With Eoin Morgan captaining England in the Champions Trophy and both Steven Finn and Dawid Malan playing for the England Lions against South Africa A, Middlesex will be without three key men, although both Paul Stirling and Tim Murtagh return from Ireland duties and slot straight into the squad.
Middlesex’s record at the Home of Cricket is nothing short of exceptional, and the Home of Cricket has become something of a fortress in recent times. Middlesex have now gone fifteen games unbeaten at Lord’s, winning six and drawing nine of those games, and last tasted defeat at home way back in 2015 against Durham. Middlesex are also unbeaten by Somerset in their last six contests, so will be optimistic going into tomorrow’s encounter.
Middlesex have named a twelve-man squad for the Somerset County Championship clash starting tomorrow…
James Franklin (capt)
Nick Compton
Stephen Eskinazi
Nick Gubbins
Tom Helm
Tim Murtagh
Harry Podmore
Ollie Rayner
Toby Roland-Jones
John Simpson (wicket-keeper)
Paul Stirling
Adam Voges
