Having trained hard all winter the Middlesex squad have the coming week off, before they return back to duty on Monday 5th March for fitness testing at the Finchley Middlesex Indoor School and more pre-season preparations ahead of their scheduled pre-season tour to South Africa.
Middlesex will return to the same venue they visited on tour in 2016, when those pre-season plans seemed to do the trick, with the club heading into the season in great shape before going on to win the County Championship title later that summer. Fingers crossed a return to Cape Town and Stellenbosch will prove to be just the tonic the squad needs for the coming season!
The squad flies out on the 8th March from Heathrow to Johannesburg, then onto Cape Town and Stellenbosch where they'll be based for the duration of their stay.
Throughout the two week tour the squad will mix a number of focussed training sessions, with gym work, middle practice, net sessions, competitive game time, with some down time and team-bonding also built into the tour schedule.
They'll play three competitive games during their stay, firstly a forty over game against Stellenbosch University at the Oude Libertas Ground in Stellenbosch itself, then two fifty over games against Sussex, who are also touring at the same time, with both games being played at Vineyard Cricket Ground in Cape Town.
The squad will return home overnight on the 21st March, landing in the UK on the 22nd, when they'll continue their pre-season preparations with two pre-season warm up games against Durham on 27th March at Merchant Taylors' School and then against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl on the 2nd April, ahead of their opening first-class clash of the season against Durham MCCU at Merchant Taylors' School on 7th April.
Here's wishing all the squad an enjoyable trip and safe travels.
