Middlesex have named an unchanged squad of fourteen for our upcoming LV= Insurance County Championship Division One clash against Kent, which gets underway at Lord’s tomorrow.
A staggering outcome to our last encounter saw us secure victory by four wickets against Nottinghamshire at Lord's on Sunday, in nail-biting circumstances, as we overturned a ninety run first innings deficit to chase down a victory target of 249 after our visitors rolled the dice on the final day, chasing the win themselves, only to leave Lord's empty handed.
In the ascendancy for large parts of the game, rain denied Nottinghamshire the opportunity to add to their overnight lead on the start of the final day, and when play eventually got underway late in the afternoon, their declaration gamble left us needing to post 249 to win off just 40 overs play.
Despite the best efforts of the Nottinghamshire bowlers, who battled valiantly to get through the Middlesex line-up again, the winning run came with one over to spare, a scrambled single off the final ball of the 39th over, to see us secure our first win of the campaign - and a much needed one at that!
Confidence will have been boosted for that result, and runs in the match for Mark Stoneman, Pieter Malan and Max Holden, an more for the in-form Ryan Higgins, will have done wonders for the spirits in the Middlesex dressing room.
This week we welcome Kent to the Home of Cricket, who themselves have had an uncertain start to their own campaign, winning one, drawing one, and losing one of their opening three matches. They sit just two points ahead of Middlesex, on 28, to our 26, in seventh and eighth places respectively in the Division One table.
Whilst Middlesex are one of only three sides to have picked up maximum bowling points with the ball from their opening three games, Kent have only amassed five, whilst with the bat, Kent have secured just one more batting point than Middlesex to this point, two, to our one.
It all points to this week's encounter being a low scoring affair, however with a number of Middlesex's batters now beginning to find the middle, and Kent's Zak Crawley hitting 170 in their latest outing and joining Ben Compton in finding some form, anything is possible.
Matt Quinn and Joey Evison are Kent's leading wicket-takers to this point, with six wickets apiece, with no other bowlers taking more than three wickets, whilst Toby Roland-Jones (15), Ethan Bamber (10), and Ryan Higgins (9) lead the way for Middlesex, with Tim Murtagh and Tom Helm on five apiece.
Our last four-day encounter against Kent came in the Covid interrupted year of 2021 in Canterbury, when in the second phase of group matches we played this week's visitors in the final match of the season - in Division Three! Bowled out for just 147, with Mark Stoneman top-scoring with 57, Middlesex's bowlers then returned the favour and knocked over Kent for just 138 to secure an unlikely first innings lead. A fine century for Stoneman saw us post 363 in our second innings, before Kent fought back, chasing down the victory target of 373 on the final day for the loss of eight wickets, with 112 from Ollie Robinson helping them to victory. That result earned Kent the inauspicious honour of securing the Division Three title, with Middlesex finishing as runners-up.
This week at Lord's, Middlesex will be keen to back up their win against Nottinghamshire, to put further distance between them and the disappointment of their opening two defeats, and with players coming into form ahead of the game, confidence will be high that they can do just that.
Middlesex name the following 14-man squad to face Kent:
Middlesex
Kent
