Middlesex have named a fourteen-man squad to travel to the Uptonsteel County Ground tomorrow to take on the Leicestershire Foxes in our sixth Metro Bank One Day Cup clash of the summer. The match, originally scheduled to start at 11am, will get underway at 2pm, finishing under the floodlights.
A comprehensive win for Middlesex on Tuesday at Radlett, when we overcame the Notts Outlaws by 134 runs saw us jump two places in the Group A table, do wonders for our net run rate, and kept our outside chances of qualification for a place in the knockout stages of the competition just about alive.
We'll need to back up Tuesday's win with another in Leicester tomorrow if we are to keep those slim hopes on track, and we'll need other results to certainly go our way too, and tomorrow's task won't be straightforward, with us taking on the in-form side in Group A, who have won all but one of their six matches to date this term and sit at the top of the table.
The Foxes started their campaign with an impressive five wicket win against Surrey, chasing down Surrey's total of 325 in the 43rd over of the innings. They then backed this up with a demolition of Kent, smashing the Spitfires by 264 runs at Beckenham, hitting 380 for 5 before bowling out Kent for just 116 in less than 24 overs.
Nottinghamshire came next, in what has been Leicestershire's only loss of the campaign, when the Outlaws had the better of a rain affected game to secure a 4 wicket win via the DLS method.
Normal business was then resumed for the Foxes, with three consecutive victories - a 94 run drubbing of Lancashire, a four wicket win against Hampshire, and in their last outing, a two wicket win against Essex at Kibworth.
Five wins have taken Leicestershire to the top of the Group A table, on ten points, and in pole position to secure their passage into the knockout phase of the competition.
Middlesex had to wait patiently until our last outing against Notts to get the first win of our campaign under our belts, and it's given the side the confidence they needed ahead of the last three games of the group stages, which we know we'll need to win to give us any chance of navigating our way into the knockout phase.
Our visitors have had four batters in terrific form to date, with Sol Budinger leading the way. His 365 runs at an average of 60.83 see him currently sat as the competition's second highest run-scorer, with Colin Ackermann, Wiann Mulder and Rishi Patel not too far behind him. Ackermann's 292 runs at 97.33 see him sat as the eighth highest run scorer, Mulder's 265 runs at 66.25 see him sat in twelfth place, and Patel's 250 runs at 41 see him sat in eighteenth position. Former Middlesex Captain, Peter Handscomb, who will come up against Middlesex for the first time since he left the Club last year, has also contributed well to the Foxes campaign, with 238 runs at 39.66.
With the ball, Leicestershire have had Josh Hull and Chris Wright leading the way this term, with twelve and eleven wickets respectively. With Hull currently sat as the second highest wicket-taker in the competition, and Wright the third, and with four batters in the top twenty run-scorers in the competition, it's easy to see why the Foxes are sat at the top of the Group A table.
Middlesex will be looking for a repeat performance of our game on Tuesday, when the plans came together with both bat and ball against the Outlaws, and some inspired Captaincy from Mark Stoneman, which saw him promote Martin Andersson up the batting order to number six, only for the right-hander to go and smash his maiden century for Middlesex.
If we can come close to replicating all that we delivered on Tuesday at Radlett, then we'll have every chance against the Foxes, as we look to get another win under our belts and build some winning momentum.
The last List-A encounter between the two sides was played in home soil for Middlesex, when a brilliant hundred from Mulder took the game the way of the Foxes, as his unbeaten 116 saw his side post a winning total of 359 for 8. A valiant effort chasing from Middlesex saw us come close, only to lose out by 15 runs, as we reached 344 in reply.
The Group A table as we sit here and now looks as follows, although with three Group A matches taking place today, the table will have evolved somewhat before we get going at the Uptonsteel County Ground tomorrow. We can only hope that results go our way.
| Pl | W | T | L | NR | A | Pts | Net RR | ||
| 1 | Leicestershire | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1.474 |
| 2 | Hampshire | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0.487 |
| 3 | Yorkshire | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0.262 |
| 4 | Kent | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -0.77 |
| 5 | Nottinghamshire | 6 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | -0.213 |
| 6 | Lancashire | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0.127 |
| 7 | Middlesex | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -0.107 |
| 8 | Surrey | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -0.778 |
| 9 | Essex | 6 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -0.835 |
Matches taking place in Group A table today (Thursday 17th August - all 11am starts):
With Middlesex needing another win tomorrow to stay in the competition, it promises to be a thrilling and nail-biting afternoon and evening ahead in Leicester.
Middlesex's fourteen-man squad, led by stand-in skipper Mark Stoneman, is as follows:
Leicestershire Foxes
Middlesex
