Middlesex Cricket can today confirm the two players who will Captain the Club in both red and white ball formats throughout the 2023 season.
In the red-ball, four-day format, Toby Roland-Jones will lead the side out this season, with the right-arm seamer taking over the Captaincy reins from Tim Murtagh. Murtagh skippered the side with distinction from mid-June last season, ultimately leading Middlesex to County Championship promotion, taking over from Peter Handscomb, who had marshalled the side to a six-game unbeaten start to the season before returning to Australia.
Roland-Jones, 35, is one of the most senior players in the Middlesex squad, now in his fourteenth season with Middlesex, having made his debut for the Club back in 2010. He has since made 122 first-class appearances for Middlesex in that time, taking 453 wickets in the process.
In both white-ball formats, Stephen Eskinazi will again captain Middlesex’s young side this year, having successfully fulfilled the role last season. Eskinazi led from the front in 2022, finishing the season with 1,089 runs across both formats, hitting four List-A centuries, a new record high List-A score of 182, and averaging 94.00 in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
Speaking of the appointment of Roland-Jones as red-ball Captain, Middlesex First Team Head Coach, Richard Johnson, commented:
“Tim (Murtagh) and Pete (Handscomb) did exceptional jobs last season in leading us back up into Division One of the Championship, and with Tim’s superb record as Captain, when we’ve won or drawn 75% of the games he’s captained over the last two seasons, it would have been very easy for us to have asked him to skipper the side again this year.
“That said, with him now moving into a Player/Coaching role this year, we’ve made the tough decision to give the captaincy to another senior playing member of the group. I would however like to go on record in thanking Murts for all he has done for the side, and he can rightly be extremely proud of his record as Captain.
“In Toby, we have someone who is highly respected in the dressing room and is a natural born leader. He is hugely competitive, plays with passion and aggression, and wears his heart on his sleeve. He is extremely proud to wear the three Seaxes on his chest and is a role model to all who play with him. I can’t think of a more obvious successor to Murts for the Captaincy role of our Championship side than Toby.
“Our return to the top-flight this year will throw some challenges our way no doubt, however I am confident that with the experience Toby has at this level, he will be well placed to handle the pressures that Division One cricket will present.”
On Eskinazi continuing to lead the white-ball side, Johnson said:
“Last season, and for the previous couple of years before that, Eski has not only been the standout player in Middlesex’s dressing room, but he’s been one of the best white-ball operators in the country. Last year he led our young Middlesex side with pride, and under his guidance we showed significant improvement across the season.
“Whilst we continue to develop as a group, we are still young, and that won’t change overnight, so the experience Eski has of leading this progressive side will prove invaluable to us as we look to continue to grow.
“As a player, he leads from the front and by example. He sets the standard for all others to follow. As a leader and as a Captain, he is highly respected by the group, is very calm under pressure, and knows the white-ball game inside out.
“His recent experiences over at the Big Bash with Perth Scorchers, when he played in a trophy winning side, will be enormously beneficial to not only him as an individual, but to us as a playing group, and I look forward to him sharing that experience with the group and to another year of white-ball improvement for our young side under Eski’s leadership.”
