T20 v Essex 30th June 2023

[Paul W]

Ethan Bamber and Toby Roland-Jones come in to the squad-

https://www.middlesexccc.com/news/2023/06/squad-preview-essex-v-middlesex-vitality-blast-2

Agony almost over after this, with only Glamorgan on Sunday still to come.

[Jonathan Winsky]

It seems a bit of a surprise that Max Harris is not in Middlesex’s squad, as the last week or so has seen him dismiss Laurie Evans and the very-much-in-form Daniel Bell-Drummond and play a 2nd XI match v Essex in which he scored 20 & 57 and took 4-74. Then again, his economy hasn’t been great in that time (not that that made him unique), and he didn’t bowl in the second innings of that 2nd XI match, which hints (not necessarily correctly) that he has an injury.

Our squad also doesn’t include Tom Helm, despite his possession of a contract at The Hundred hinting (not necessarily correctly) that he is one of our best Twenty20 players.

The absence of Pieter Malan means that unless he plays v Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens on Sunday, we will have fielded one overseas player in 8 of our 14 group stage matches and no overseas players in our other 6. Conversely, most of the other counties will have surely not only been able to make greater use of overseas players, but will have seen their overseas players put in several notable and important performances.

Whoever gets selected during our final two T20 group stage matches of our campaign (or, indeed, simply just final matches of our campaign) will gain experience going forward. Whoever doesn’t get selected will not be compromising their chances of being fit for our forthcoming important County Championship match v Northamptonshire at Merchant Taylors’ School.

Essex have named a 16-man squad for this match (https://www.essexcricket.org.uk/2023/06/29/match-previews-essex-eagles-v-middlesex-surrey/) consisting of Simon Harmer, Ben Allison, Aaron Beard, Will Buttleman, Sam Cook, Matt Critchley, Robin Das, Feroze Khushi, Dan Lawrence, Aron Nijjar, Michael Pepper, Adam Rossington, Daniel Sams, Shane Snater, Paul Walter and Tom Westley.

[MIDDLE EXILE]

We win the toss and bowl again. Bambi gets his first T20 gig of the season.

[Jonathan Winsky]

With Middlesex’s target being 226, I fear that yet again, we will spend most of our chase with the rate required above 12, meaning that ones and twos are insufficient to reduce the rate required, and boundaries have less of an impact than ideal. Then again, at least our target isn’t 253 like it was eight days ago v Surrey at The Oval, on which occasion our rate required was above 12 before we had even faced a ball, although admittedly we actually won that match.

I didn’t expect to see Tom Helm in our line-up considering he was not listed in our squad. Considering his economy was just 6.25, maybe “he is one of our best Twenty20 players” after all.

Compared to our other bowlers, Ethan Bamber - making his first T20 appearance in more than two years - also arguably bowled on the economical side, not that 9.00 ought to make a bowler amongst the most economical in a side.

I am not sure if Helm or Bamber would have been as economical had Helm bowled later than the 18th over or Bamber later than the 12th.

Before Martin Andersson conceded 26 off the final over, it looked like our target could be kept to around 210. However, the amount of runs off the over is likely to have hastened the point when our rate required reaches 12.

[Jonathan Winsky]

Like Middlesex’s run chase v Surrey at The Oval, we are actually spending much of our chase ahead or within touching distance of the rate required.

Unlike Middlesex’s run chase v Surrey at The Oval, we are not keeping wickets in hand, so our middle- and lower-order will probably be required to do a lot of the work.

Like Middlesex’s run chase v Surrey at The Oval, I am watching this with little expectation that we will actually pull this chase off.

[MIDDLE EXILE]

More defeatist talk Jonathan, with wickets in hand and only nine an over required we're well in the game. Constant pessimism will only drag you down.

[John (Fingers) Fingleton]

More defeatist talk Jonathan, with wickets in hand and only nine an over required we're well in the game. Constant pessimism will only drag you down.

What on earth went wrong? Middlesex won with 2 balls and 2 wickets to spare ...

[Jonathan Winsky]

Well done to everyone who contributed to this win!

Finally, Middlesex are picking up some form in Twenty20 cricket, although admittedly we have conceded 228-3, 237-6, 252-7, 228-3 and 225-6 in our five most recent matches, which makes it remarkable that our two wins have come at this stage of the campaign rather than when our targets were lower. I welcomed the return of the County Championship earlier this week, although perhaps it would be better if we just played T20 cricket for the remainder of the season. That is a view I would be sure to hold if we lose v Northamptonshire at Merchant Taylors’ School!

I wasn’t sure if it was wise for Martin Andersson and Tom Helm to seemingly be happy to run singles as opposed to trying to keep Andersson on strike as much as possible. If I supported Essex, I can guarantee that I would have hoped to keep Helm on strike as much as possible. Anyway, we got over the line, with their partnership yielding 28* off 18 balls. Actually, perhaps the partnership had more in common than I assumed it did with Ben Stokes and Jack Leach’s partnership at Headingley in 2019, as Helm appeared to have been taking much of the responsibility for scoring the runs, protecting his partner, and indeed not seeing his partner score until the end was in sight, as the breakdown after 16 balls was that Helm had taken 10 of the balls and scored 15, while Andersson was only required for 6 of the balls and had scored 5. However, the six which Andersson hit off Paul Walter in the final over changed the complexion of the partnership, and - more importantly - the match.

As we reached the latter part of our innings comfortably ahead of the rate required, my concern switched from the rate required to how many wickets we had in hand, as I would have preferred more wickets in hand at the expense of a higher rate required.

I have been in bad mental health for virtually my whole life, although thankfully I have become used to it.

[adelaide]

Good to get over the line, which the loss of three quick wickets had put in serious doubt. Odd that we have won two of the most difficult looking matches and consistently lost to teams not much more likely than us to be in contention.

[Paul W]

Considering we are probably the worst performing county in T20 over the last decade or so (it is sometimes suggested Derbyshire are about as bad) there is a certain irony that this is the third time we have successfully chased a target of 225 or above (226 v Somerset in 2019 being the other one). If we ever sort the bowling out, that should make us serious contenders.

We are no longer the poorest side this season!!!!

In the other group, Leicestershire P13 W2 L11 run rate -1.499 whilst we are P13 W2 L13 run rate -1.208

No idea why Luke Hollman did the post match interview- or was it a waxwork with an artificial intelligence ap installed in his head?