Middlesex's First Team Coach ,Richard Johnson, has named an unchanged squad of fourteen for this week's final match of the 2024 season against Sussex at the 1st Central County Ground in Hove.
He puts his trust in the same group of players who demolished Derbyshire in two days and one session last week to secure a moral boosting innings victory up at the County Ground, and we'll be needing an equally impressive performance and result again this week against Sussex to maintain any hopes we have of gaining promotion to Division One.
Sussex secured their own promotion last week when beating Gloucestershire by an innings down in Bristol, and whilst the pressure is now off the Martlets, they'll be looking to secure the four points they need to guarantee they go up as Champions of Division Two.
Yorkshire are the huge fly in the ointment for Middlesex, with promotion now out of our hands and us relying on a slip up from the White Rose this week.
The door to promotion remains open for Middlesex, albeit by only the slimmest of margins, and it will be slammed shut if Yorkshire can pick up the ten points they need to guarantee a second place finish and secure promotion themselves, irrespective of how we do down in Hove.
All we can do, is head to Hove with our sights set on a strong and match-winning performance, targeting maximum points from the game, and hope that Northamptonshire, who secured a terrific nine wicket win last week against Leicestershire, can repeat the feat this week and can turn Yorkshire over up at Headingley.
The old saying of 'control the controllables' has never been more apt than this week. Middlesex must simply head to Hove with everything focussed on getting the job done ourselves, and then whatever happens elsewhere is out of our control.
The Division Two table stands as follows ahead of this final week of matches:
| TEAM | P | W | T | L | D | A | BAT | BOWL | ADJ | PTS |
| SUSSEX | 13 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 35 | 37 | -3 | 221 |
| YORKSHIRE | 13 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 36 | 37 | 0 | 201 |
| MIDDLESEX | 13 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 27 | 31 | 0 | 186 |
| NORTHAMPTONSHIRE | 13 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 22 | 34 | 0 | 152 |
| LEICESTERSHIRE | 13 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 27 | 30 | 0 | 145 |
| GLOUCESTERSHIRE | 13 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 1 | 27 | 28 | -10 | 141 |
| GLAMORGAN | 13 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 19 | 30 | -1 | 128 |
| DERBYSHIRE | 13 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 19 | 28 | -1 | 110 |
We head to Hove off the back of that terrific win last week against Derby, and can only hope that another performance like that is in us over the coming four days. It was spearheaded by Captain fantastic, Toby Roland-Jones, who inspired the win with his second ten-wicket haul of the summer, as he returned two five wicket bags in the match to finish with figures of 10 for 72. Those ten wickets took him to 52 Championship wickets this year at a miserly average of just 22.09 and he is now the countries second highest leading wicket taker in both divisions of the Championship.
Sussex's 2024 promotion winning campaign has been led from the front by former Middlesex man John Simpson, who has marshalled the Martlets to promotion admirably this term. 1,110 runs at an average of 69.37 sees him placed as the third highest run-scorer in the country going into the last week of fixtures, and it seems that moving to the south coast has given him a new lease of life, as this is the highest run tally he has achieved in his fifteen years as a pro cricketer, having only passed 1,000 runs once in his time at Middlesex.
Simpson is streets ahead of the next highest scoring Sussex batter, with Tom Alsop (733 at 43.11) and Tom Haines (714 at 37.57) next in line, almost 400 runs behind.
With the ball, the right-arm off spin of Jack Carson has been the main Sussex weapon this year, and he leads the way by some margin on 47 Championship wickets, Trailing him is the ever dangerous Ollie Robinson, who has had another fine year with the ball, picking up 38 wickets in the Championship at just 25.65.
Middlesex are on the cusp of having three batters pass 1,000 Championship runs in the season for the first time since 2006, when Nick Compton, Ed Joyce, Owais Shah and Ed Smith all reached four figures. As it stands, ahead of the final game against Sussex, Ryan Higgins has already hit the milestone, and sits on 1,093 runs at an average of 72.86, whilst Max Holden is on 957 (at 50.36) - just 43 runs short, and Leus du Plooy is on 949 (at 52.72) - just 51 runs short.
Roland-Jones' efforts with the ball have been well supported by those around him in the bowling unit, with Ethan Bamber and Ryan Higgins both on 30 wickets to this point, followed by Henry Brookes (22), Tom Helm (21) and Luke Hollman (19).
We'll need a blockbuster performance from Middlesex this week against a strong Sussex side, and some good fortune to come our way elsewhere, and in a few days time we'll learn whether that's been enough for Middlesex to secure promotion this season.
Thanks for all your support over the season, and it all comes down to the coming few days on the south coast.
If you're heading to Hove to watch the action, have a terrific trip and cheer loudly for Middlesex, and if you can't make the trip, then the best way to follow the action is to tune into Sussex's live stream of the game, which you can watch via the Middlesex website.
INFORMATION ON TICKETS TO SUSSEX:..
We have been asked by Sussex to advise all Middlesex members and supporters that the easiest and cheapest way to get tickets to this week's game in Hove is via their online ticket site - in advance of arriving. Tickets bought online are £5 cheaper than at the gate, and can be purchased from HERE.
MIDDLESEX'S FOURTEEN MAN SQUAD FOR SUSSEX MATCH IN HOVE...
Sussex
Middlesex
