Middlesex staged seven days of out-ground cricket in the space of twelve days up to June 7, at three different venues, and it is a ‘roadshow’ policy the club is keen to maintain.
County staff worked hard behind the scenes to ensure the games at Uxbridge, Merchant Taylors’ School at Northwood, and Radlett went ahead smoothly.
A first Specsavers County Championship victory of the season, after six successive draws, was the main reward for Middlesex’s players when they beat Hampshire at Northwood, but a NatWest T20 win at Uxbridge on May 27 was offset by a narrow defeat to Gloucestershire in Brendon McCullum’s debut in Northwood’s T20 fixture on June 2 and, five days’ later, by a five-wicket loss in the county’s Royal London One-Day Cup opener at Radlett, in which Hampshire gained revenge for their earlier defeats at Uxbridge and Merchant Taylors.
“We always enjoy getting out on the road,” said Middlesex president Harry Latchman. “It is good for our supporters to get the chance to watch the team on the more intimate grounds as well as at Lord’s.”
Middlesex, indeed, plan to stage a four-day championship fixture at the scenic Radlett ground as soon as the Hertfordshire club are confident that a recently re-laid square will produce pitches good enough for first-class cricket. For many years, of course, Uxbridge staged regular championship matches before Middlesex decided to bring Merchant Taylors’ School on to their four-day rota two years ago.
There is still one more out-ground match to come for Middlesex, at Richmond against Glamorgan in the NatWest T20 Blast on July 8, but for now they are gearing up for five more limited-overs games in the next seven days – four of them on the road.
First up is Essex under the Chelmsford floodlights in the T20 Blast tomorrow, and there are then two Royal London Cup fixtures away at Sussex on Sunday and Glamorgan on Tuesday before back-to-back T20 games against Sussex at Lord’s and Surrey at the Kia Oval on June 16 and 17 respectively.
Mitch McClenaghan, the New Zealand left-arm fast bowler who starred at the IPL, now replaces Adam Voges as Middlesex’s second overseas player for T20 Blast matches, while McCullum is with the club until June 25 when he will make way for Australian batsman George Bailey.
Voges, Middlesex’s championship captain, has joined up with Australia in the Caribbean but not before he was played instead of McCullum in yesterday’s Royal London Cup win at Gloucestershire, in which Paul Stirling made an unbeaten 125.
“We wanted Adam to play in one of the 50-over games before he left so that he is then available to play in the knockout stages of the competition when he returns and should we qualify,” explained Angus Fraser, the Middlesex managing director of cricket.
“With all three forms of the game being played in June it is a busy, exciting and extremely important month for the team. And, by the end of this month we should have a much better idea of the direction our season is heading in.”
