Middlesex First Team Coach, Richard Johnson, has named a squad of fourteen for tomorrow's Metro Bank One Day Cup clash against London rivals Surrey, being played at Radlett Cricket Club's Brunton Memorial Ground.
Only one change is made to the fifteen-man squad who travelled to Southampton last week to take on Hampshire, with seamer Blake Cullen rested for this match.
Middlesex were unlucky to miss out in their opener last week at the Ageas Bowl, going down by 18 runs via the DLS method, as the arrival of rain two thirds of the way through Hampshire's reply to Middlesex's total of 309 forced the players off the field, just after the spin of Sam Robson had made a double break through for Middlesex to put the game right in the balance.
With the rain setting in, and the players unable to return to the field, Hampshire, who were ahead of the DLS target when the players left the field, were declared the winners, to leave Middlesex frustrated by the weather and suffering defeat in our opening clash of the campaign.
Tomorrow we take on a Surrey side who have been decimated by Hundred call ups, with twelve of their regulars teaming up with their respective franchises in August, although our South London neighbours are still able to field a side including a number of capped international players. The visitors Hundred absentees include Dan Worrall with the London Spirit, Chris Jordan with Southern Brave, Reece Topley with Northern Superchargers, Lawrie Evans and Jamie Overton with Manchester Originals, and Gus Atkinson, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Sunil Narine, Tom Lawes, Will Jacks and Jason Roy all with the Oval Invincibles.
Despite all the absentees, England internationals Rory Burns, Dom Sibley and Ben Foakes all played for Surrey in their opener on Wednesday at the Oval, although Leicestershire proved too strong for Surrey, chasing down their victory target of 326 in just 42.2 overs to secure a five wicket victory.
The corresponding One-Day Cup fixture between Middlesex and Surrey last season, was also played at Radlett, and saw Middlesex triumph by 102 runs, thanks largely to a new record high List-A innings from Stephen Eskinazi, who smashed the Surrey attack for 182 off 136 deliveries. This year of course Eskinazi is at the Hundred, with Welsh Fire, and Middlesex will need to find their runs from another source.
Joe Cracknell and Ryan Higgins were the two to oblige last week against Hampshire, hitting 64 and 78 respectively, although with Middlesex's coaching unit pushing for the side to play with the same attacking flair as they did in the T20 format earlier this year, there are plenty of others in the line-up who can weight in with the runs.
We're scheduled to get underway at 11am tomorrow, although the weather forecast looks anything but encouraging at the time of writing this preview, so be sure to come armed with appropriate wet-weather attire in case the forecasters have it right.
Our fourteen-man squad for tomorrow's encounter against Surrey is as follows:
Middlesex
Surrey
