Having beaten Yorkshire inside three days last week to temporarily take top spot in the Vitality County Championship Division Two table, Middlesex next travel to the west country, where they’ll face Gloucestershire in Bristol.
First Team Coach, Richard Johnson, has again named a squad of fourteen for the encounter, with just one change to the squad named last week for the Yorkshire game, with Ishaan Kaushal coming in to replace Blake Cullen in the pace ranks.
Middlesex’s comprehensive win against Yorkshire, who are billed as many people’s favourites for the Division Two title this season, saw them bag the first win of their campaign and pick up nineteen points from the clash. This, along with the 23 points earned from draws in their opening two encounters against Glamorgan and Northamptonshire took them to the top of the table on Sunday, before Sussex’s win on Monday against Gloucestershire saw them leapfrog the Seaxes with 51 points.
To this point, Middlesex’s batting has looked resolute, and stood up to a stern test against a strong Yorkshire attack last week. There were times in the game where Yorkshire came hard at Middlesex, but the side looks to have some real steel, determination, and depth to it this year, with the addition of Leus du Plooy adding both quality and poise to the ranks, with others around him benefitting from a more robust middle order.
It's early days of course, however the form of Max Holden, du Plooy and the ever-dependable Ryan Higgins, all averaging above three figures, and on 311 runs, 326 runs and 263 runs respectively, is certainly something to celebrate.
With the ball, it’s hard to read too much into the opening two rounds of the competition when armed with the toothless Kookaburra ball, however with the Dukes ball back in hand, Middlesex’s attack out-bowled Yorkshire’s and looked to have plenty of threat within it. Ethan Bamber, Toby Roland-Jones and Ryan Higgins all delivered with the Dukes and looked in great rhythm, and with all seamers in the squad currently fit and well, there are plenty of options for the coaching staff to rest and rotate the unit when required to keep things fresh.
Gloucestershire come into the game this week without a win from their opening three games, currently sitting at the bottom of the Division Two table. A complete wash out in their opening clash against Derbyshire, a draw with Yorkshire, and most recently a defeat to Sussex has earned them 26 points to date.
Against Yorkshire, right-arm seamer Zaman Akhter accounted for England’s Harry Brook in the first innings, and Joe Root in both innings, and he leads the way for Gloucestershire on the wicket-taking front with eight victims, shared with Zafar Gohar, who picked up all eight of his wickets in the defeat to Sussex last week in Hove with his left-arm spin.
With the bat Miles Hammond and James Bracey lead the Gloucestershire run scoring race, with 201 and 200 runs respectively at averages of 52.75 and 52.50, although the quality opening pairing of Australian import Cameron Bancroft and the experienced Chris Dent have yet to fire for this week’s hosts, amassing just 132 runs between them.
With Middlesex looking to maintain their unbeaten start to the season, and Gloucestershire looking to get their season up and running, it promises to be another thrilling encounter down in Bristol, and we’re looking forward to a game between two sides who haven’t met in the four-day format since 2021, when Gloucestershire had the better of both encounters at Lord’s and in Cheltenham.
Middlesex have named the following fourteen-man squad for this week’s clash against Gloucestershire:
Live Stream
You can watch a live stream of this week's match provided by our hosts Gloucestershire, who will be broadcasting across all four days of the match. Tune into the game and follow the action on the Middlesex website.
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