Middlesex continued their winning ways in the Royal London Cup yesterday, securing their third successive victory in the competition, but it was far from straightforward, as they were made to work hard for their win against table topping Nottinghamshire at Grantham Cricket Club.
Having been put into bat by their hosts, Middlesex once again had Stephen Eskinazi to thank for posting a competitive total, as he incredibly hit his third century in three games - 135 off 104 balls. He was well supported by number three Sam Robson, who himself also hit a century, with the pair adding 234 for the second wicket, a new List-A record for the second wicket partnership against Nottinghamshire, before Robson departed for 103.
The pair had secured Middlesex an incredible platform to build on, 283 for 4 after 38 overs, however their knocks proved to be the exception rather than the rule as no other batter in the side was able to pass thirty. The Middlesex innings from there rather tailed off disappointingly before eventually being wrapped up in the final over with 355 on the board. On a scorched wicket and lightning-fast outfield, the total looked to be about par, however Middlesex were left disappointed to have not posted 400+ and certainly left 50 or more runs out there.
In reply, Umesh Yadav continued his fine form with the ball, picking up two early wickets, before Ben Slater and Haseeb Hameed got the nerves jangling with a 191 third wicket partnership to keep the Outlaws in the hunt.
Mirroring Middlesex’s innings, Slater’s knock of 90 and Hameed’s of 114 were the exceptions, although a late burst from Fateh Singh, who smashed 45 off 22 balls, got his side closer to the target.
Wickets for Middlesex closed the game out, as they held their nerve to wrap up an important win and secure the two points that took them to the top of the Group A table - Nottinghamshire’s valiant run chase ending on 328, 27 runs short. Pick of the Middlesex bowlers was Yadav with 4 for 54, who now has thirteen wickets in the competition this year and leads the wicket-taking charts.
Tomorrow, the side head to the West Country, where they will face a Somerset side who have yet to get up and running in this year’s competition, with the Taunton based side sitting bottom of the Group A table without a point on the board yet from four games played.
Next up, in their third game, despite finding runs easier to come by, Somerset lost out to Durham by 9 runs when chasing 342. They could only manage 333 in reply, with a brilliant knock of 157 from Ben Green, hit off just 84 deliveries, proving not quite enough to get them over the line. Yesterday, against Leicestershire, Somerset fell to their fourth successive defeat, when with the ball they got the job done, dismissing the Foxes for just 269, but with the bat they failed, managing to post just 224 in reply to lose by 45 runs.
Despite current form, the Somerset side still poses plenty of threats, with several experienced players in their ranks more than capable of winning matches for them - not least of the Australian pairing of Peter Siddle and Matt Renshaw.
Middlesex will need to be mindful of this, stick to their disciplines well down in Taunton, ensure their plans are executed well, and if they can repeat the positives from their recent runs of performances, then there’s nothing to suggest that they can’t return from the West County with another win under their belts tomorrow.
The last time the two sides went head-to-head in a List-A encounter was back in the 2019 season, when at Radlett Middlesex ran out comfortable winners by 118 runs when hitting the fourth highest list-A total in the Club’s history, smashing 364 for 6, with Sam Robson top-scoring with a run-a-ball 106. That victory was the first of three successive wins Middlesex secure to end the group stages and reach the quarter-final play-offs, when they took on Lancashire at Lord’s, eventually losing out by 20 runs. Lancashire went on to lose to Hampshire in the semis, who then lost out to Somerset in the final, who lifted the trophy at Lord’s later that summer.
Middlesex have named an unchanged fourteen-man-squad to face Somerset tomorrow:
Somerset will be broadcasting a live stream of the match from Taunton, available to watch on their YouTube channel.
Somerset
Middlesex
