Middlesex head to Canterbury on Sunday afternoon for round five of the Vitality Blast against Kent, and First Team Coach Richard Johnson has named a thirteen-man squad to face the Spitfires, as his side look to get back to winning ways after their brilliant unbeaten start to the season came to an end down in Hove last night against Sussex.
Middlesex fought hard to maintain their 100% record in the competition, however the experience, level-headedness, and quality of Sussex Captain, Ravi Bopara, took his side to victory in the final over of the game, by the margin of five wickets.
Last night, Sussex won the toss and stuck Middlesex in, however didn't bank on Middlesex going off like a train, as the visitors reached 101 for 2 at the halfway stage of their innings, with former Middlesex man Steven Finn picking up the wickets of openers Max Holden and Stephen Eskinazi. The pace trio of Tymal Mills, Obed McCoy and Finn then wrestled things back for the hosts, as Middlesex were reined in, dismissed for 163, with West Indies quick McCoy picking up 4 for 30. Joe Cracknell shone with the bat for Middlesex, top-scoring with an impressive 68.
Rain fell in the interval, reducing the Sussex target to 146 off 17 overs, and when their reply eventually started the hosts lost early wickets, with Middlesex looking well in the game as Sussex stuttered to 37 for 3. This brought Sussex skipper Bopara to the crease however, and he used all the experience he has collected from over 400 T20 appearances to shepherd his side to victory in a perfectly timed run chase. With the threat of more rain around, he ensured his side kept up with the required DLS total, and finished unbeaten on 54 from 36 balls to see his side over the line, hitting the winning runs with just three balls of the game remaining.
Huge credit must go to the Middlesex bowlers however, as Jason Behrendorff on debut, Chris Green and Thilan Walallawita all impressed, although it was not to be, and the side move on to Canterbury, where they'll be looking to get back to winning ways against a side who have lost all five of their opening Blast encounters this year.
Defending Champions Kent have had a horror start to the defence of their title, going down to Somerset at home in their opener, Essex at home next time out, Sussex in Hove next, then Gloucestershire in Bristol, and finally Surrey last night in Canterbury by 32 runs in a low scoring affair.
Only Hampshire have a worse net run rate than Kent at this stage of the competition, and the Spitfires are averaging just 150 in each innings so far this term - desperately missing the runs of Daniel Bell-Drummond, who has been such a consistent performer for them in recent seasons.
The threat of Joe Denly, Sam Billings, Jordan Cox, Alex Blake and of course Bell-Drummond remains however, so Middlesex will certainly not be taking Kent lightly tomorrow, and they go into the clash with twelve of the squad who were named to face Sussex last night. The only change to the thirteen named to face Kent is the omission of seamer Toby Roland-Jones, who is rested for this one after a heavy workload, to be replaced by Max Harris, who comes into the squad having impressed recently for Middlesex Seconds in the T20 format.
Middlesex have named the following thirteen man squad to face Kent tomorrow:
Kent Spitfires
Middlesex
