After a four-week break from red-ball cricket, when we've been in Vitality Blast action, Middlesex make an eagerly awaited return to the four-day format on Sunday, when we host Derbyshire in the Vitality County Championship at Lord's.
We head into the clash sitting in second place in the Division Two table, just eight points behind leaders Sussex, with us currently unbeaten in our opening seven Championship matches.
Two wins in those seven games, against Yorkshire and Glamorgan, and five draws against Glamorgan, Northamptonshire, Gloucestershire, Leicestershire and Sussex sees us sat on 101 points, nine points ahead of Leicestershire in third, and eleven ahead of Gloucestershire in fourth.
In such a hotly contested Second tier, any one of the eight sides in it will still fancy their chances of pushing for promotion if they can find some form and build a sustained good run in the second half of the campaign, with only 39 points separating Sussex, the side at the top, and Derbyshire, this week's opponents, at the bottom.
Against Derbyshire, one of only a handful of sides to have yet secured a win in the competition this season, Middlesex will be hopeful of getting straight back to winning ways this week at Lord's, to further cement their position at the top end of the table.
Derbyshire however will be no pushovers, as whilst they have yet to come out on the winning side this year, they have secured draws in five of their seven games, and have lost just once, to Sussex back in early May, when they were soundly beaten by an innings and 124 runs.
We have named a fourteen-man squad for this week's encounter, led by four-day skipper Toby Roland-Jones, who, like some others in the squad, will come into this one fresh, having not featured at all in the Club's Vitality Blast campaign through June.
Like Roland-Jones, fellow seamers Ethan Bamber and Ishaan Kaushal are coming into this one off the back of a lengthy rest, whilst openers Sam Robson and Mark Stoneman have also been out of first team action since they last featured against Sussex at Lord's back at the end of May.
Earlier this week, down at Taunton Vale, six of the squad featured in a Second Eleven Championship clash against Somerset Seconds, with Sam Robson and Mark Stoneman both getting into the runs, whilst Roland-Jones, Kaushal, and Bamber were all in the wickets, with Roland-Jones and Bamber picking up eleven wickets between them in the game.
This week will be Leus du Plooy's first outing against Derbyshire since he joined Middlesex this year, after spending the previous five seasons at the County Ground, Derby, before leaving at the end of 2023. He made a return to competitive action for Middlesex on Thursday night against Surrey, having missed out on the previous three games with an illness that side-lined him, and he'll be relishing the challenge of going up against his old side this week.
In terms of the 'tale of the tape' for this week's two opponents, it's Middlesex who come out on top.
Derbyshire's leading run-scorer in the Championship is Brooke Guest, who has a tally of 456 runs to his name at an average of 45.60, whilst the ever dependable Wayne Madsen comes next, with 389 runs at 38.90. Aneurin Donald (309) and Luis Reece (308) are their only other two batters to surpass 300 runs this season.
For Middlesex, we have three batters who have surpassed 500 runs this term, with Ryan Higgins leading the way. His 637 runs at an average of 91.00 see him leading the list, with Max Holden (558 at 62.00) and Leus du Plooy (553 at 61.44) close behind. Sam Robson has also surpassed 400 runs this season, at an average of 80.00, with Mark Stoneman not too far in arrears, with 384 runs at 38.40.
With the ball for Derbyshire, right-arm spinner Alex Thomson leads the way, with 14 wickets, whilst quick Zak Chappell is the visitors leading pace bowler, with ten wicket to his name, and is the only other Derbyshire bowler to have reached double figures this season.
Four Middlesex bowlers have reached double figures, with Ethan Bamber out front with 19, with Ryan Higgins and Tom Helm locked together on 15 and skipper Roland-Jones on 11.
The last time the two sides met at Lord's, the game ended in a draw, with Stephen Eskinazi in the runs, hitting a hundred in Middlesex's first innings, whilst Josh De Caires hit 80 when opening the batting as we posted a total of 401. It was Shan Masood who was the difference for Derbyshire on that occasion, with the Pakistan opener proving as dogged and defiant as ever, hitting 91 in the visitors' first innings and 62 in the second. Masood has since moved on, so this week's visitors will need someone else to step up and make the difference against Middlesex at Lord's this week.
As we move into the second half of the County Championship campaign, there's a huge amount to play for, and Middlesex will be looking to continue their good form in the early stages, and build a serious push for promotion to the top-flight.
Middlesex's fourteen-man squad for this week's game is as follows:
If you're unable to make this week's match at Lord's, then make sure you tune in to our live stream of the game, broadcast from Lord's, and available to watch for free, in the Match Centre on the Club's website or direct on the Club's YouTube channel.
Middlesex
Derbyshire
