After the disappointment of yesterday's Metro Bank One-Day Cup match against Durham being abandoned without a ball being bowled at Radlett Cricket Club, we head to Manchester next, to the Emirates Old Trafford, where we will face Lancashire tomorrow in our next group game, starting at 11am.
Yesterday at Radlett, with the forecast hinting at the possibility of a light shower in the morning, no one was expecting the weather that descended on the Brunton Memorial Ground, as from 10.45am, when rain first started falling, until after 3pm, when the umpires called the game off, persistent and heavy rain battered the ground with no let up. It gave the ground staff no chance whatsoever, with the umpires left with no alternative but to abandon the game as the chances of any play disappeared.
First Team Coach, Richard Johnson, has named an unchanged squad of fourteen for the clash against Lancashire tomorrow, as we look to continue our recent good form in the competition and push for a place in the knockout stages of the competition.
Middlesex shook off the disappointment of defeats in our opening two matches against Worcestershire Rapids and Derbyshire, by securing recent victories over both Northamptonshire Steelbacks and Kent Spitfires, and we went into yesterday's clash against Durham at Radlett high in confidence and full of hope that we could build on that winning momentum. Sadly, the rain put paid to those hopes!
Those two recent wins and the point earned from yesterday's abandonment, sees Middlesex sat mid-table on five points from five games completed, and just a point away from Worcestershire, Somerset and Hampshire, who sit joint second on six points and in the qualification places, with Derbyshire out in front on eight points and leading the group.
Middlesex will head into tomorrow's game hoping to bag the two points that will give us a great chance of closing in on the goal of qualification, and with Hampshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire, Somerset, Worcestershire and Kent all in action today, the standings in the group will move around overnight ahead of tomorrow's clash in Manchester as we near the latter stages of the competition.
In such a tightly congested group, Middlesex know that we'll need at least two wins from our remaining three games to give us a chance of qualifying, and a win tomorrow will give us the perfect platform to launch a challenge with just two further group games remaining.
Still missing from Middlesex's squad for tomorrow are five first team regulars, with Leus du Plooy, Stephen Eskinazi, Tom Helm, Max Holden, and Ryan Higgins all off with their respective Hundred franchises for another couple of weeks, whilst tomorrow's opponents will potentially be missing a staggering ten players, with Tom Aspinwall, Jos Buttler, Tom Hartley, Matthew Hurst, Liam Livingstone, Saqib Mahmood, Phil Salt, Mitchell Stanley, Luke Wells and Luke Wood all with their Hundred sides.
With those ten players missing for most of this year's Metro Bank One-Day Cup campaign, Lancashire have really struggled to find any form to date in the competition, and sit bottom of the group having lost all five of their matches played, presenting Middlesex with a wonderful opportunity to capitalise on their own good form of late when they get underway at Old Trafford tomorrow.
Lancashire's campaign kicked off with defeat to Durham, by 57 runs, despite a brilliant knock off 147 from Josh Bohannon in what proved to be a losing cause. Another hundred, this time from Keaton Jennings, wasn't enough to stop Kent narrowly beating Lancashire at Stanley Park in Blackpool in their next outing, before Lancashire were humbled by a chastening defeat to Derbyshire next time out, dismissed for just 99 in 20 overs. Somerset then got the better of them with a heavy eight wicket down in Taunton next, before Hampshire ran out winners by 71 runs in their last outing, despite another hundred from former Middlesex man Chris Green.
The last time these two sides met in the List-A format of the game was last year at Lord's, where the visitors ran out winners in a closely-fought, high-scoring encounter, securing a win by the margin of ten runs. Lancashire batted first and posted 303 in their fifty overs, with 72 from George Lavell, 66 from Matty Hurst and 62 from Josh Bohannon doing the bulk of the damage, In reply Middlesex fell agonisingly short, with Ryan Higgins' 66, Martin Andersson's 46* and Mark Stoneman's 44 proving to not be quite enough as the visitors snatched victory.
Middlesex have named the following squad for tomorrow's game at Old Trafford:
For those not travelling to the game tomorrow, we have been advised by our hosts, Lancashire, that a live stream of the game will be available to watch for free online. You can watch it on the Middlesex website.
Here's to another Middlesex win tomorrow and a push towards the knockout spots!
Lancashire
Middlesex
