County Championship preview | Middlesex vs Gloucestershire
8 September 2024
Gloucestershire return to County Championship action on Monday with a trip to Lord’s to face Middlesex.
Shire go into the match in sixth place in Division Two with 119 points from 11 matches following the abandonment against Northamptonshire last week.
Middlesex, meanwhile, sit in second place on 158, just one point ahead of Yorkshire in third place, having won four and drawn six of their 11 fixtures so far this season. In their last County Championship match which happened to be against their nearest rivals at Headingley, both teams cancelled each other out with the match drawn.
Ryan Higgins with 155 and Sam Robson with 108 top-scored as Middlesex batted just the once in the match having accumulated 522 first innings runs. Luke Hollman picked up four wickets in a match that only saw 18 wickets fall in total.
Returning to Lord’s to take on Gloucestershire, Middlesex will be aiming to claim their fifth win of the season in pursuit of promotion to Division One.
Mark Alleyne’s side, meanwhile, will be looking to pick up a second win of the season to place pressure on the cluster of sides chasing those all-important promotion places.
TEAM NEWS
Mark Alleyne selects a 14-man squad for the trip to the capital. 19-year-old seamer Archie Bailey makes the matchday squad and could make his first-team debut at Lord’s. Ed Middleton and Zafar Gohar also feature as two specialist spin options.
Marchant de Lange, meanwhile, misses out due to a hamstring injury.
Your 14-man squad to face Middlesex:
LAST TIME OUT
In the last outing vs Middlesex in Bristol at the end of Bristol, both sides had to settle for a drawn match following an eventful four days at the Seat Unique Stadium.
Miles Hammond with 81 and Graeme van Buuren with 75 top-scored for Gloucestershire in the first innings as the home side scored 322 runs. Marchant de Lange claimed six first innings wickets as Gloucestershire bowled the visitors out for just 203 runs.
Middlesex, however, dug in to score 449/7d in the second innings thanks to centuries from both Ryan Higgins and Max Holden. Set 331 to win, Gloucestershire ran out of time in their run-chase on day four.
HOW TO WATCH
Gloucestershire take on Middlesex in the Vitality Blast County Championship at Lord’s, London, on Monday 9th September.
Watch every ball live via the Glos Cricket match centre, here
