Middlesex First Team Coach, Richard Johnson, has named a thirteen-man squad for tomorrow's Metro Bank One Day Cup clash, when we'll take on the Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Radlett Cricket Club.
We head into the fixture still searching for our first win of the campaign, having lost out twice over the last three days to Essex on Friday in Chelmsford, and to Kent Spitfires yesterday in Beckenham.
Whilst Friday's defeat was agonisingly close, when we lost by just 3 runs chasing Essex's total of 298, yesterday's loss was in stark contrast, as having restricted Kent to 288 in their innings, our batting never fired, as we were dismissed for just 155, suffering a 133 run loss.
With four games in the campaign now behind us, and with just one point on the board, any chances of qualification for the knockout stages are very much dependant on the side turning their form around tomorrow and continuing that for the next three games, to hopefully finish the group stages with four consecutive wins to end on nine points, which would put us in with a shout of qualification. Anything other than a win for Middlesex tomorrow and the only realistic outcome will be an early exit from the competition.
Nottinghamshire come to Radlett currently sat in fourth place in the Group A table, on five points, having won two of the five matches they've played, with one game rained off, and a win for them tomorrow would really cement their push for one of the three knockout places up for grabs.
They will arrive at the Brunton Memorial Ground looking to turn their own form around, having lost their last two encounters in the competition, to Surrey yesterday by 3 runs via the DLS method, and to Hampshire on Friday, by 91 runs.
Current Group A table
| P | W | T | L | NR | A | Pts | NetRR | ||
| 1 | Leicestershire | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1.743 |
| 2 | Hampshire | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.56 |
| 3 | Kent | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -0.77 |
| 4 | Nottinghamshire | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0.458 |
| 5 | Yorkshire | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0.321 |
| 6 | Lancashire | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0.3 |
| 7 | Surrey | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | -0.999 |
| 8 | Essex | 5 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | -1.004 |
| 9 | Middlesex | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -1.123 |
Tomorrow's visitors will be missing several key players to their respective Hundred franchises, with Joe Clarke and Jake Ball with the Welsh Fire, Ben Duckett with Birmingham Phoenix, and Alex Hales, Colin Munro, Matt Carter, Tom Moores and Samit Patel all with Trent Rockets, although any player who hasn't featured for two consecutive games for their franchise can return to play for the Outlaws, with none of the franchises above scheduled to be playing tomorrow.
The last time the two sides met in a competitive List-A contest was last summer, when Middlesex ran out winners by 27 runs at Gorse Lane in Grantham. Hundreds from both Stephen Eskinazi and Sam Robson took Middlesex to the sixth highest score in their List-A history, 355, before the Outlaws were bowled out for 328.
Middlesex's fourteen-man squad for tomorrow's encounter at Radlett is as follows:
Middlesex
Notts Outlaws
