Middlesex face seventh-placed Nottinghamshire (1:30pm) and fifth-placed Surrey (4:30pm) in the final round of the T20s this Sunday at Old Whitgiftians.
Following a ten-wicket defeat to Birmingham Bears and a four-wicket loss to Kent last weekend, Middlesex will be looking to end their season with two wins. One of the big differences between the opposition and Middlesex at Beckenham was fielding, with misfields perhaps costing Middlesex the matches.
Against Kent, the opening pair of Cordelia Griffith and Amara Carr enjoyed a 68-run stand, finding the boundary regularly and putting the hosts under pressure. Griffith scored 37 off 32, an innings which included five fours and a six, while Carr struck 52 off 48 hitting three fours. Middlesex will look to the openers to build a good platform for the batters to capitalise on. Sophia Dunkley will come in at three and look to finish the county season as she started - in scintillating form and effortlessly finding boundaries. Middlesex boast a deep batting line-up after the top three consisting of Natasha Miles, Naomi Dattani, Beth Morgan, Olivia Rae and Emma Albery. If boundaries are proving hard to come by the batters will need to look to run hard between the wickets and turn singles into twos by putting pressure on fielders. With the ball, Lauren Bell and Katie Wolfe will open and look to make early in-roads while delivering economical overs. Wolfe especially has enjoyed the season claiming 19 wickets at 14.26. Miles can also call on seamers Gayatri Gole and left-armer Dattani as well as off-spinning duo Albery and Bhavika Gajipra and leg-spinner Dunkley.
Nottinghamshire have a strong attack led by seamer Sonia Odedra who has claimed 12 at 19.83 this season, which also includes England left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon who has taken 14 at 16.79 and leading wicket-taker Sophie Munro who has picked up 18 scalps at an average of 17.611. Odedra is also has an important role to play with bat in hand and is the county's leading run-scorer with 265 this season.
Hosts Surrey will be looking to England allrounder Bryony Smith to deliver an explosive batting display at the top and tie up the batters with her off-spin. Smith has enjoyed a stellar summer accruing 457 runs at 45.70 for her county. Aylish Cranstone sits second in the Surrey rankings with 376 runs at 28.92. Smith's spin has brought her 11 wickets at a healthy average of 14.55 this summer. Skipper Hannah Jones is another bowler Middlesex will need to negotiate carefully and will be wary of Surrey's leading wicket-taker following her 3-11 from two overs in the London Cup.
Head down to watch Middlesex, Nottinghamshire and Surrey in the last matches of summer, it is free entry for all and with three evenly matched teams there should be some entertaining cricket on show.
Contributed by Georgia Isaac, Middlesex Women’s Media Assistant
Middlesex Squad
Natasha Miles
Emma Albery
Lauren Bell
Amara Carr
Naomi Dattani
Sophia Dunkley
Bhavika Gajipra
Cordelia Griffith
Gayatri Gole
Beth Morgan
Olivia Rae
Katie Wolfe
Surrey Women 1st XI
Middlesex Women 1st XI
