Middlesex First Team Coach Richard Johnson has named a squad of thirteen for our latest Rothesay County Championship clash against Leicestershire at Lord's, which starts tomorrow and is scheduled to end on Monday 19th May.
Leicestershire head to Lord's unbeaten and proudly sit at the top of the Division Two table, with Middlesex currently sat 30 points adrift in third place.
Middlesex have enjoyed a well-earned break from competitive action this week, sitting out of this latest round of matches, having cemented their position in the top three with an incredibly tense victory last time out against Kent at Lord's., securing victory off the last ball of the penultimate over of the match, after four hard days of closely fought contest.
Richard Johnson has Leus du Plooy to call upon again this week, after the top order left-hander sat out of the win against Kent with an injured toe, and Johnson will have some tough selection choices to make, after Luke Hollman, the man who replaced du Plooy in the Kent game, hit his maiden first-class century in Middlesex's second innings, backing up the form he's shown previously in the Club's Second Eleven this term.
With du Plooy more than likely to slot straight back into the side, who he replaces will become clear on Friday morning at the toss.
Young seamer, Naavya Sharma, having been named in the squad for Kent, is again included in the thirteen, and he'll be hoping that this week's encounter against Leicestershire provides him with the opportunity to cross the line and make his first eleven debut. Again, with numerous seam options available to him, it's another tough selection call for Johnson to make on Friday morning.
Leicestershire remain one of only two sides in Division Two to have yet been defeated, along with Derbyshire, and whilst Middlesex's only defeat has come away at Kent in Canterbury a month or more ago, they'll have to again be at their very best against the Foxes this week to give themselves any chance of being the first side to inflict defeat on the visitors.
We welcome back former Middlesex Captain Peter Handscomb for this game, who comes back to Lord's as the Foxes Captain, and he's been in terrific form this year as one of four of the visitors batters to have passed 300 runs this season. Leading the way is Sol Budinger, with 353 runs at 44.12, with Handscomb next in line 331 runs at 47.28, Ben Cox on 315 runs at 39.37, and then Lewis Hill on 300 runs at 37.50.
With the ball, it's the seam quartet of Leicestershire that have led the way, with right-armer Ian Holland up front with 21 wickets. Ben Green comes next with 17 wickets, Logan van Beek with 15, and Tom Scriven with 13.
Middlesex will head into this one full of confidence and looking to build on the recent win over Kent to close the gap on Leicestershire, who themselves will be fighting hard to maintain their unbeaten status.
Whatever unfolds at Lord's over the next four days, we're looking forward to another intriguing contest.
Middlesex's thirteen-man squad for this week's clash is as follows:
Middlesex Men
Leicestershire Men
