Middlesex First Team Coach Richard Johnson has named a squad of fourteen for our final home match of the 2023 season, as we take on Warwickshire at Lord's in the penultimate round of the LV= Insurance County Championship.
Middlesex head into the fixture still sat in eighth place in the Division One table, having earned a draw at Old Trafford last week against Lancashire, which kept us ahead of Kent, who sit in ninth, who also only managed a draw at home against Nottinghamshire.
The eight points we took from our trip to Manchester were enough to hold our position in the table, although the twelve points Kent claimed at Canterbury saw them close the gap to just two points, with two games remaining.
Kent travel to Somerset this week, who are sat comfortably in mid-table, and we'll be looking to at least match Kent's result this week to take things into a nail biting final week of the season.
The Club announced earlier today that modern-day legend Tim Murtagh would be retiring from playing the game at the end of the season, and he is named in the fourteen-man squad, which contains four other seamers, in Ethan Bamber, Tom Helm, Ryan Higgins and Toby Roland-Jones.
The Middlesex spin-attack includes Jayant Yadav, who claimed a maiden five-wicket haul for the Club on his debut at Old Trafford, and Josh De Caires, who has picked up 23 wickets in just six appearances this season, and is preferred to all-rounder Luke Hollman for this one.
Middlesex will be hoping their batters can show more of the resolve they showed in the second innings up at Old Trafford, as they look to finish the season strong, and add to the two bonus points they've notched up all season. A dogged 86 in the first innings from Sam Robson was the standout performance for Middlesex with the bat, although Jack Davies' 65 from 148 balls proved equally as vital in the context of the game, earning his side a crucial draw on the final day.
This week's visitors arrive at Lord's in fourth place in the table, just 4 points adrift of Hampshire in third, and they'll be looking to finish their own campaign with a good performance, having narrowly avoided being beaten by bottom side Northamptonshire last week at Edgbaston, yet somehow managing to snatch a victory on the final day of the game.
With time running out in the game, a sporting declaration from Northants skipper Luke Procter, who pulled out of their second innings with just 72 runs on the board, left Warwickshire a target of just 175 to win, although the gamble so nearly paid off for Northants, as Warwickshire collapsed to 24 for 5, before they steadied the ship and got over the line eight wickets down in the dying stages of the game.
Warwickshire have been heavily reliant on the form of Sam Hain with the bat, who leads their run-scoring, with 706 runs at an average of 47.06, with support coming from Rob Yates (549 runs), Dan Mousley (538 runs), Will Rhodes (474 runs) and Michael Yates (466 runs).
With the ball, it's been the seamers of Chris Rushworth and Oliver Hannon-Dalby battling it out for the lead wicket-takers slot, with Rushworth just edging things at present, with 45 wickets at 20.31, compared to Hannon-Dalby's 44 wickets at 20.15.
Whilst a keen eye will be kept on proceedings down in Taunton, Middlesex must first and foremost look to get the job done themselves, as a win this week at Lord's would go a long way towards ensuring Division One cricket in 2024.
Whatever unfolds over the next four days at the Home of Cricket, it promises to be absolutely gripping.
Middlesex's fourteen-man squad for this week's match is as follows:
Middlesex
Warwickshire
