The Middlesex Disability D40 First XI suffered their first defeat of the D40 Quest season, as they lost to Hampshire at William Perkin School on Sunday.
Middlesex won the toss and elected to field against a strong Hampshire side, who had also won their first two fixtures of the season, on a sunny afternoon in Ealing.
With six of the squad involved in England’s triumphant Deaf and Learning Disability sides in Australia, a number of Second XI players were selected for the fixture. Alongside them was Moazzam Rashid, who rushed over to play having got off the plane less than four hours earlier!
James Nordin made the breakthrough in just the second over, as the Hampshire opener was caught by Haroon Rashid for 6, before the opposition batters started to settle in at the crease. Their 3, 4, and 5 all scored half-centuries, and took the score up to 247/6 in the 36th over.
Moazzam Rashid then returned to the attack to pick up two quick wickets, before taking a third in the penultimate over of the innings. He ended with figures of 3/37 from 8 overs, as well as a catch, in what was a phenomenal effort.
Neil Magdana took two of the Hampshire wickets on his Middlesex First XI debut as Hampshire were bowled out for 263, where Middlesex became the first side to bowl Hampshire out in three years. Nordin, Matthew Jones, and Ramchandra Lacmane all took one wicket each, and there were run-outs for Elliot Brown and Nordin. Haroon Rashid took three catches in the field.
The young Middlesex side then struggled with the bat against Hampshire’s tight bowling, losing the top three to be 60/3 at the half-way stage. With Nordin at one end, the home side always had a hope that if someone could stay in the middle they might slowly creep towards the target.
Middlesex had reached 82/7 with 12 overs to go, needing another 181 to win, before Nordin started his onslaught – bringing up a thrilling fifty in 52 balls, including six fours and a six.
After adding another five boundaries he was caught, being the last batter dismissed for a terrific 78, 101 runs behind Hampshire’s total. You can see the scorecard here.
The Middlesex D40 First XI travel to Sussex in their next game on Sunday 3 July, before hosting Lancashire two weeks later. Meanwhile, the Second XI are sitting comfortably at the top of the D40 Pursuit South Division with two wins from two, and the Super 9s have been in similar form – winning their last two games to challenge at the top of the S9 Regional South East Division.
