Middlesex First Team Coach, Richard Johnson, has named a squad of thirteen for tomorrow's opening match of the 2022 Vitality Blast campaign at Radlett Cricket Club against Gloucestershire.
When interviewed at training today, Head of Men's Performance Cricket, Alan Coleman, spoke of a few late enforced changes on the Middlesex squad, with Mujeeb Ur Rahman's arrival in the UK delayed because of visa issues. Mujeeb is now scheduled to be joining up with the Club upon completion of Afghanistan's white-ball series against Zimbabwe. All-rounder, Chris Green, who was initially scheduled to replace Mujeeb when the Afghan was away on international duty mid-tournament, will now join immediately as a replacement for Mujeeb and is available until the spinner arrives.
Also delayed in arriving at Middlesex is Australian quick Jason Behrendorff, who is still at the IPL as a result of his franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore, qualifying for the eliminator stage of the competition. Behrendorff will join Middlesex as soon as his IPL involvement comes to an end and be available for the remainder of the competition.
In a change to the Captaincy of Middlesex's Blast outfit, Stephen Eskinazi will lead the side out this year, and will Captain Middlesex throughout the entire campaign, and tomorrow he'll have England white-ball Captain Eoin Morgan at his disposal, who is available for a selected number of games early in the tournament before he departs on England duty.
Johnson picks a squad with four seamers in it, in Martin Andersson, Blake Cullen, Toby Greatwood and Toby Roland-Jones, and three frontline spinners in Green, Luke Hollman and Thilan Walallawita, with spin support also coming in the form of Max Holden, giving him plenty of options when narrowing the squad down to his final eleven.
With the bat, Eskinazi will lead from the front, most likely as one of the opening pair, and he'll have plenty of power coming in after him, with Joe Cracknell, Jack Davies, Morgan, Green, Holden, Hollman and John Simpson all capable of launching an assault throughout the order.
Middlesex will be hopeful of a strong start to the white-ball formats and will be looking to take a winning mentality into the Blast, having gone unbeaten in the first six weeks of the season.
Middlesex's thirteen man squad to face Gloucestershire is as follows;
Stephen Eskinazi (captain)
Martin Andersson
Joe Cracknell
Blake Cullen
Jack Davies
Toby Greatwood
Chris Green
Max Holden
Luke Hollman
Eoin Morgan
Toby Roland-Jones
John Simpson (wk)
Thilan Walallawita
Middlesex
Gloucestershire
