Having lost out to Leicestershire Foxes in their opening Royal London Cup clash at Radlett on Thursday, Middlesex head to Chester-le-Street next to take on Durham at the Seat Unique Riverside on Sunday, and have named a fourteen-man squad for the clash.
Despite Middlesex hitting the sixth highest total ever in the Club's List-A history, when piling on 344 for 9 against Leicestershire, the Foxes ran out winners by 15 runs in a high-scoring encounter at Radlett and Richard Johnson's side will need to bounce back tomorrow to get their campaign up and running.
Whilst on the wrong end of the run-fest, there were plenty of positives to take from the performance, which Middlesex will need to draw on this Sunday to get things back on track.
On a quick wicket and a fast scoring outfield, reducing the run flow was always going to be the challenge for Middlesex, although a disciplined performance with the ball in the first 35 overs had Leicestershire pegged back to 227 for 7 with the visitors looking decidedly likely to finish with an under par total. Therein however the positives came to an abrupt end with the ball, as when the visitors most needed a partnership they found one. With Middlesex unable to finish things off and complete their good work, 113 runs were added for the eighth wicket, and crucially 83 runs in the final five overs of the innings, as the Foxes recovered brilliantly to post 359 for 8.
Whilst much encouragement can be taken from the opening 70% of the bowling performance, all the good work was undone in the latter stages, and this will need to addressed for the remainder of the campaign. The absence of Toby Roland-Jones and Tom Helm in the death overs could not have been more telling, however with both away for August with their Hundred franchises, others will need to step up and fill that void.
With the bat, again there were plenty of positives, with all of the top six getting starts on Sunday - 56 from Stephen Eskinazi, 35 from Mark Stoneman, 26 from Sam Robson, 50 from Pieter Malan, 39 from Max Holden and 44 from Joe Cracknell. The failure to capitalise on each of those starts and build a match-winning innings was frustrating however, although with a top six carrying that much quality, you can help but feel that doing so is only a matter of time.
There won't be too many times that you hit 344 in a fifty-over innings and come out on the wrong side of the result, and Middlesex will need to focus on the positives from Thursday's game and build on those, whilst also looking to address the shortcomings, which were certainly more evident with the ball than with the bat.
Durham also failed to get their campaign off to a winning start, losing to a severely depleted Surrey side by nine wickets at Chester-le-Street on Thursday.
Bowled out for just 181 inside 41 overs, with Surrey fielding a largely unrecognisable starting eleven, tomorrow's opponents clearly have worries of their own to address, although a line up which includes the likes of Graham Clark, Alex Lees, Scott Borthwick, Nic Maddinson and Chris Rushworth are more than capable of turning that around, so Middlesex will need to be right on it on Sunday to come away from the Riverside with their first points secured.
The Hundred has accounted for four key Durham absentees, with Brydon Carse, Mark Wood and Matt Potts all missing throughout August having teamed up with their Hundred franchises, whilst Ben Stokes is also missing, although having initially been called up to the Hundred, he has since withdrawn from the competition having taken on the responsibility of Captaining the England Test side.
Carse, Wood, Potts and Stokes are all key components to the Durham pace attack, and their absence at the Hundred this month will be a big blow to Durham's hopes of fifty-over success this year.
The last List-A encounter between the two sides saw Durham narrowly secure victory by just 2 runs in a rain affected affair at Radlett last season. Graham Clark (65), Scott Borthwick (76) and Luke Doneathy (50) saw the visitors to a total of 288 for 8 in their 50 overs. Half centuries from Peter Handscomb (75) and Robbie White (55) kept Middlesex in the run chase before rain came and fourteen overs play were lost. The revised DLS target saw Middlesex requiring 55 from just 4 overs which proved beyond them, falling 2 run short in their reply.
For tomorrow's clash at Chester-le-Street, Middlesex have named a fourteen-man squad to face Durham, with Josh De Caires added to the thirteen named to face Leicestershire:
Durham Cricket
Middlesex
