It will be interesting to see what Middlesex’s line-up for this match will be, as we resume our County Championship campaign. Unless something suddenly changes, we will be without Nick Gubbins, Dawid Malan and Toby Roland-Jones, as Gubbo told Lower Mound at Uxbridge on Tuesday that the target is for him to return for the match v Yorkshire at Headingley beginning on Tuesday 5th September (Gubbo probably said the same when on commentary), while AC and TRJ’s places in England’s Test side appear not to be under any threat. Also, I am not sure whether Sam Robson, Ryan Higgins or Ollie Rayner will be available, as our last Championship match v Warwickshire at Lord’s two weeks ago saw Robbo bat with a runner in the second innings and Rayner miss out due to injury, while Higgo seemed to dislocate his bowling shoulder last night. Therefore, there must be a good chance that any combination of Max Holden, James Harris, Nathan Sowter and Ravi Patel will play, as Holden currently tops the batting averages of Northamptonshire (where he is their only Championship ever-present) with 629 runs @ 39.31 with 2 centuries and 2 fifties, and I am sure we will be allowed to recall him from his loan, Harris this week took six wickets and posted scores of 35 and 146
v Surrey 2nd XI, and the chances of Sowter retaining his place and Patel possibly coming in are increased due to The Oval having a reputation for taking late-season spin. If we feel the pitch will be conducive to spin, we will hope that Rayner will be back considering he took 15 wickets in this fixture in 2013, while it would also increase Holden’s chances of being selected considering he is a part-time spinner.
We are 20 points behind 2nd placed Lancashire and 20 ahead of the first relegation place which is currently occupied by Somerset, so the results of this round of matches could indicate whether we have a chance of finishing in the top four or whether we will find ourselves in a relegation scrap. We will certainly need to perform much better than we did v Warwickshire at Lord’s. There are only two other division one matches in this round, which are Essex v Somerset and Lancashire v Warwickshire. Surrey are eight points ahead of us, so they too will be hopeful of finishing in the top four, although I don’t know if they feel under threat of relegation.
The fact our Twenty20 campaign has ended means we have no reason not to turn our attention to this match. However, Surrey are still involved in that format, as they have a quarter-final v Warwickshire at The Oval on Friday. I am not sure how clubs are supposed to prepare a pitch for a match that may or may not take place. Just last night, it wasn’t certain whether Surrey would be in the quarter-finals, let alone have a home tie! I wouldn't have thought the quarter-final and the Middlesex match will be played on the same pitch, although doing that would reduce their groundstaff's workload.
As this match will begin on a bank holiday, Lower Mound and I intend to be at day one.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2017 09:04 by BarmierKev.