Middlesex Head Coach Stuart Law has named a fourteen man squad to face Leicestershire in the LV= Insurance County Championship, starting tomorrow at Merchant Taylors' School in Northwood.
Regular Captain Peter Handscomb is unavailable for selection, having tested positive for Covid-19 yesterday, so he has been removed from the squad.
Tim Murtagh will deputise in Handscomb's absence as Captain.
Also absent from the squad are John Simpson and Tom Helm, who remain in the England bubble for the ongoing series against Pakistan, having been called up to England's replacement ODI squad after England's Covid breakout last week.
Coming into the Middlesex squad for the Leicestershire clash are seamer James Harris, who has recovered from injury and played for the Second Eleven this week, and also Max Holden and Joe Cracknell, who both featured in yesterday's Blast match in Cheltenham.
With Simpson out with England, either Robbie White or Joe Cracknell will deputise with the wicket-keeping duties, as Middlesex look to finish the first stage of this season's County Championship on a positive note.
Whilst last week's encounter with Gloucestershire ended in defeat, there was plenty of fight shown from the Middlesex middle order, with important runs scored for Eskinazi and Daryl Mitchell, both who came out of the game having spent good time in the middle.
The rate with which Middlesex's lower order and tail capitulated last week is cause for concern however, and is something that needs addressing swiftly, as whilst a gutsy and spirited fightback from Middlesex was mounted against Gloucestershire, when the lions share of the hard work had been done to salvage a draw, the loss of six wickets for just 14 runs in the final session of day four destroyed all that good work.
Few could argue with Eskinazi's assessment that Middlesex had competed well in three of the four innings that the game constituted, and it's making sure that they're in all four of them that will be the difference. Plenty to work on, but some positives too to take into this week's clash.
Middlesex's fourteen man squad for the Leicestershire game, starting tomorrow at 11am, is as follows:
Tim Murtagh (captain)
Martin Andersson
Ethan Bamber
Joe Cracknell
Blake Cullen
Josh De Caires
Stephen Eskinazi
James Harris
Max Holden
Luke Hollman
Daryl Mitchell
Sam Robson
Nathan Sowter
Robbie White
Middlesex
Leicestershire
