Middlesex have named a thirteen-man squad to face the Essex Eagles tonight in Chelmsford, where they'll be looking to turn around a current run of four consecutive losses in the Vitality Blast.
Last night against Surrey at Lord's Middlesex fought hard against an experienced international line-up, which contained a side boasting close to 2,300 T20 appearances. That experience told, as the visitors continued their terrific run in this year's competition to secure a 20 run victory in front of a 20,000 crowd at the Home of Cricket.
In a South Group which is bunching up tightly as we move into the second half of the competition's group stages, Surrey stand out as the side to beat - and that's something no one has managed to do yet! They sit on top of the pile on 13 points from 7 games played, having won six with one game rained off, with Somerset following closely behind, on 10 points from 6 played, with only one loss recorded to date. With seven matches now played for Middlesex, their record of 3 wins and 4 losses puts them in seventh place in the table, yet only one point behind Gloucestershire and Essex, who sit on 7 points in third and fourth places respectively!
With four sides from each group qualifying for the knockout stages, there's still everything to play for, but Middlesex need to turn a corner, and turn it quickly, to get their campaign back up and running.
Last night's London derby could have been a different story had Middlesex been able to build on a wonderful start to their innings, after openers Stephen Eskinazi and Max Holden had piled on 76 in a little over 6 overs at the start of their reply, however the fall of regular wickets and the inability for anyone else to capitalise on the start saw Middlesex fall short.
Plenty of positives to take into this evening's encounter in Chelmsford however, where Middlesex will be looking to begin rebuilding their campaign against an Essex side who have been the model of inconsistency themselves, with a record so far in the competition that reads; won, lost, won, lost, abandoned & won!
Essex on home turf are always a stiff test, in front of a partisan Eagles crowd, and Eskinazi's side will need to be right on it tonight to turn that corner. A repeat of last year's victory over Essex, when Middlesex won by 9 runs in Chelmsford would be just what the doctor ordered. First Team Coach Richard Johnson makes two changes to the squad named to face Surrey last night.
Eoin Morgan drops out for tonight's trip, replaced by Josh De Caires, who himself hit a half century on 37 balls yesterday in Middlesex's Second Eleven T20 semi-final defeat to Glamorgan, and Toby Roland-Jones is rested, ahead of the side's return to four-day action in Derby on Sunday, and he is replaced by Toby Greatwood who is added to the squad.
The Club announced earlier today that Nathan Sowter had joined Durham on loan for the remainder of this year's Blast campaign, with the leg-spinner not featuring in Middlesex plans, as game time is given to others in the squad.
Middlesex's squad to face Essex tonight is as follows:
With tonight's match being an away game, Essex will be producing a live stream of the game, which viewers can watch on YouTube or via the Middlesex website in the match centre.
Essex
Middlesex
