Middlesex’s Disability D40 First Eleven side travelled down to Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl yesterday, where they claimed their second victory of the season.
Hampshire’s First Eleven last suffered defeat in the 2019 season, and are the reigning D40 Quest champions, so a trip to the nursery ground at the Ageas Bowl was always going to be a challenge for the young Middlesex side.
Having lost the toss and been put in to bat, Umesh Valjee (21) and Maddox Colby (19) got the side off to a solid start, and by the time Aryan Janjale (10) departed in the twentieth over the score was 95/3.
In the next ten overs, captain George Greenway – standing in for the injured James Nordin – and Naseer Butt piled on the runs, before Greenway departed for 46. Shortly after, Butt’s fine innings came to an end, as he hit 69 from 57 deliveries, with the score on 186/5.
Some late power from Mohammed Farooq (34 from 26) and Elliot Brown (19 from 18) continued to propel the score, with Middlesex finishing the allocated 40 overs on 247/9.
Colby (4-0-29-2) and Jai Charan then struck early to dismiss both openers and reduce the hosts to 21/2, before Colby took his second shortly after.
Farooq struck three times in fifteen balls, conceding just one run, to rip through the Hampshire middle order, and finish as the pick of the bowlers with figures of 6-3-15-3.
In that spell, Charan (8-1-41-2) also took his second of the day, removing the Hampshire captain for 33 from 17 balls and reduce his side to 83/7.
Matt Jones (4.4-1-14-2) and Neil Magdani (2-0-13-1) came into the attack and kept the pressure high, before Jones finished the game off with two wickets in six balls, to complete a comprehensive 90 run victory.
This completed two wins in two weeks against Hampshire, after our D40 2XI won a thriller last Sunday by 11 runs to pick up their first victory of the season. They are next in action on Sunday 25 June, where they host Northamptonshire.
The D40 First Eleven face Sussex in two weeks time, on 18 June. The game is being played at Sussex’s 1st Central County Ground in Hove. Ground entry for that game is free, and tickets can be booked here.
After their week off, the Super 9s are also next in action on Sunday 18 June when they host Hampshire.
You can see the scorecard here.
