Yesterday's victory over Hampshire Second Eleven at Merchant Taylors' School saw Middlesex's Second Eleven qualify for the Second Eleven T20 Finals Day at Arundel on Thursday 9th June 2022.
Middlesex qualify as the countries best placed runner-up, finishing on thirteen points, just one point behind South Division group winners, Sussex.
Middlesex qualify, along with Sussex from the South Group, Leicestershire from the North group and Glamorgan from the Central Group.
Middlesex's campaign began with five games on the road, all away from home, starting with a comprehensive eight wicket win against Kent Seconds at Polo Farm, Canterbury, before then losing, equally as comprehensively, to Essex at Garon Park in Colchester, by ten wickets. Another defeat followed, by seven wickets away against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl, before a trip to the Kia Oval to face Surrey was washed out without a ball bowled. Their road trip was completed with a clash at Horsham against Sussex, where Middlesex got back to winning ways with a five wicket victory.
A period of five home matches in the space of a week, all at Merchant Taylors' School kicked off with a ten run win against Essex, before heavy rain showers over two days saw matches against both Sussex and Kent rained off without a ball bowled. A victory over London rivals Surrey, by twenty runs on Thursday afternoon, left Middlesex needing to beat Hampshire in their final match, and look at results going favourably elsewhere, to give us any chance of progressing.
A tightly fought content saw Middlesex defend 142, as Hampshire could only post 135 in reply, to see Middlesex win by just seven runs and secure their place in next Thursday's Second Eleven T20 Finals Day at Arundel.
Some notable standout performances from Middlesex players over the campaign, saw Joe Cracknell hit an unbeaten 79 against Kent in the opener and Atharva Prasad hit a brilliant 102 off just 63 balls against Hampshire and 70 against Essex to finish the group campaign as the Club's leading run-scorer. With the ball the performance of the group campaign went to paceman Toby Greatwood, whose 5 for 14 off 4 overs against Surrey was truly exceptional.
We will find out who are opponents are and which semi-final we are playing in over the coming days, and will be sure to update followers of this news when we receive it from the ECB.
The schedule for the day is:
Ticket Information:
Gates to Arundel Castle open at 9am on the day and tickets are available from Arundel Castle CC priced at £15 per person (including parking). Tickets are available in advance by emailing [email protected] or can also be purchased on the day at the same price.
We hope to see as many spectators at Arundel as possible to cheer Middlesex on and hopefully witness the Men's Second Eleven lifting some silverware, following the lead set by Middlesex Women, who were crowed Champions of Group Seven recently in the Women's National T20 County competition.
