After notching our first win of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup campaign on Monday at Radlett, Middlesex’s First Team Coach, Richard Johnson, has named an unchanged squad of fourteen to head to Beckenham on Sunday to take on the Kent Spitfires.
After starting this year’s campaign with two disappointing outings away from home at Worcestershire and Derbyshire, Middlesex bounced back in some style at Radlett earlier this week with a comprehensive performance to get the better of Northamptonshire Steelbacks on Monday, executing the run chase perfectly, after the visitors had earlier posted 317 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs.
Luke Hollman was again the standout man with the ball, and he has really stepped up this term as a reliable source of wickets and control in both white-ball formats. His 3 for 49 were the standout figures for Middlesex, although the pace pairing of Henry Brookes and Noah Cornwell also reaped rewards, both picking up two wickets, with figures of 2 for 73 and 2 for 54 respectively. with both extracting good pace and bounce from the surface.
The only downside of what was a much-improved performance with the ball for Middlesex was the recovery that the Steelbacks were able to muster, fighting back from 122 for 5 almost halfway through their innings, although on a deck that rewarded batters when they got in, it was almost inevitable that the visitors would build at least one meaningful partnership in their innings.
That came from Saif Zaib and Gus Miller, who added a crucial 125 runs for the Steelbacks’ sixth wicket partnership, to bring them back into the game and enable them to let loose with the long handle at the end of their innings to reach a total of 317.
It was a far higher total than Middlesex would have been hoping to have to chase after the early inroads they’d made with the ball, although undaunted, they went about their reply with a real sense of calm, with Johnson mixing up the batting order and sending Josh De Caires up the order to open with Joe Cracknell.
The run chase was managed to perfection, with opener Cracknell hitting 49 at just under a run-a-ball, number three Nathan Fernandes batting patiently and joint top scoring with skipper Mark Stoneman, both hitting 83, to leave Jack Davies and Martin Andersson the job of getting us over the line.
Davies’ unbeaten 31 from just 17 balls, and Andersson’s unbeaten 35 off 23 took us to victory, with eleven balls to spare, and earned Middlesex our first win of the campaign by the margin of five wickets.
It was the performance that we’d been looking for, and we’ll be looking to carry all those positives into Sunday’s match at Beckenham, when we’ll be up against a Kent Spitfires outfit who have won two of their opening three matches in this year’s fifty over competition.
Both Middlesex and Kent will head into the fixture without five first team regulars, all off with their respective Hundred franchises, with Middlesex missing Leus du Plooy, Stephen Eskinazi, Tom Helm, Max Holden and Ryan Higgins, and Kent missing Daniel Bell-Drummond, Sam Billings, Zak Crawley, Fred Klaassen and Tawanda Muyeye.
Thus far in the competition, Kent opened up with a three wicket loss down in Taunton to Somerset, although have since bounced back with consecutive wins against Lancashire in Blackpool and Hampshire at Beckenham.
Their clash with Lancashire was a nail-biting low-scoring encounter. With the Spitfires bowled out for just 209 in their innings. Lancashire looked to be fully in control of their run chase, needing just 23 runs from the final five overs with three wickets still standing, only to bowled out for 204 to see Kent secure victory by the margin of just 5 runs.
On Wednesday against Hampshire, it was another low-scoring affair, as Hampshire were rolled by the Spitfires for just 168, with Kent knocking off the runs inside 41 overs for the loss of six wickets.
Going into Sunday’s clash, when comparing the two sides' batting and bowling stats in the campaign to this point, it’s clearly Middlesex who come out on top with the willow, and Kent with the leather!
Harry Finch has been Spitfire’s main threat with the bat in the competition, hitting 115 runs at an average of 57.50, although the next highest Kent batter is Joey Evison with 78 runs at 26.00.
Compare that to Middlesex and Mark Stoneman’s 178 runs at 59.33 puts him at the top of Middlesex’s leading run scoring chart, with Joe Cracknell’s 109 at 36.33, Martin Andersson’s 104 at 52.00, and Nathan Fernandes’ 99 at 33.00 next in line.
With the ball Kent’s main strike bowler has been Beyers Swanepoel, who has picked up eight wickets already, with Matt Parkinson’s six and Charles Stobo’s five coming next.
For Middlesex wickets have been hard to come by, and Luke Hollman’s four puts him ahead of Brookes on three, and both Fernandes and Cornwell on two apiece.
The corresponding fixture last year between Kent and Middlesex was also played in Beckenham, and it was the home side who had by far the better of things, hitting 288 in their fifty overs before bowling Middlesex out for 155 to secure a big win by 133 runs.
Middlesex will be looking to keep up their winning ways on Sunday and take momentum into the second half of the competition, and another performance like that against the Steelbacks will give them every chance.
Our squad of fourteen for Sunday’s clash in Beckenham is as follows:
You'll be able to watch a live stream of the game, provided by our hosts on Sunday, which can be watched for free on the Middlesex website.
Kent Spitfires
Middlesex
