Middlesex thread

[Shelsey93]

First topic message reminder :

Thought I'd continue to add to the growing number of county threads. Hopefully there will be somebody to chat away with in here!

I'll be following Middlesex this year for deepextracover.com . I'll be attending their press day on Monday and hopefully grabbing some interviews, will be at some of the home matches and will be 'live blogging' for some of the others too. If anyone has any questions they'd like me to ask on Monday please post them here - I'm told there is a good chance I'll get to speak to Paul Stirling, Toby Roland-Jones and Steve Finn (although I might have to queue for the latter!).

My thoughts are that whilst one-day cricket could be a bit difficult, Middx do have a real chance in the Championship. The seam bowling looks really strong and the batting strong enough. The biggest question mark is over the spin bowling on dry pitches.

[guildfordbat]

Here is the Middlesex season review that I wrote for DEC - http://deepextracover.com/2013/10/11/middlesex-season-review-2013/

Typically thorough review, Shelsey. Thanks.

Also interested to know if you have any views and/or ''info from the inside'' on how Ramps is doing and regarded as Middlesex's batting coach. There was much weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth on the Surrey Supporters' website when he wasn't offered that sort of role at the Oval. However, I wasn't so convinced that such a great batsman (at least at county level) would automatically be a great batting coach. Possibly that has been borne out by Middlesex's difficulties with the bat this year. There again, Ramps can obviously only work with the players that he has in front of him and that might be where the major problem lies.

[Shelsey93]

It is still early days for Ramprakash in the batting coach role. However, he is clearly highly respected - in interview the batsmen like to talk about the work they've done 'with Ramps'. Would they have regarded Mark O'Neill (the previous batting coach)'s assistance so highly? I'm not sure.

There was a rumour - nothing I can substantiate - that work with Ramprakash has in part convinced Malan to stay (he is in contract but, following his poor Champ season, might have wanted to look elsewhere).

Beyond that I can't really help on how he's done so far though, as you say, the performances of the top six as a whole this year suggest there has been no immediate positive effect. The real barometer might be how well the youngsters do coming in. There are several young batsmen he'll be working with - Rossington, Gubbins, Higgins, Balbirnie - and it will be interesting to see if they kick on.

I can understand the feeling from some Surrey supporters that he's another being lost to the club. But it seems quite clear to me that, by the time of his retirement, he was quite disillusioned with how things were going at Surrey. Having been quoted as being critical of the way the likes of Roy go about batting would he then have been the ideal man to give them guidance? I'm not sure. The bigger loss to Surrey might be Graham Thorpe, incidentally, who is showing signs of being a very good coach. He's been fast-tracked into an ECB role (national lead batting coach and ODI batting coach).

[guildfordbat]

Thanks, Shelsey.

You make a particularly good point about ''the real barometer'' likely to be the performances of young batsmen coming into the team. I saw Gubbins make 80 odd in a seconds' game at Guildford in July. A good aggressive innings (just a pity he was so annoyed at missing out on a century that he didn't acknowledge the applause from the small crowd upon his return to the pavilion).

In reality, I don't think there was any way that Ramps could have taken on a coaching role at Surrey whilst Adams was at the helm given the increasing cracks in their relationship. Similar issues had already done for Thorpe.

[LOVERBOY]

The antipathy that existed between Ramps and Adams was well known,which would have made it impossible to have continued working at The Oval.
Ramps has always regretted the manner of his leaving Middlesex originally,and was delighted at the opportunity of returning.
His role is somewhat different from that of O'Neill's,in that he is contracted to the club only for a specific number of days in the season ,given his other commitments,whilst O'Neil was around on a more permanent basis.
Both are highly regarded coaches,however some did find it difficult to work with O'Neill given his own modest playing record and for that and personal reasons he decided not to continue.Ramps has been working on a one to one basis with both the established players and the up and coming ones,and Dawid Malan in particular owes much to his assistance,whilst the emergence of the younger ones mentioned is further testimony to his ability
The current arrangement works well and it is hoped that Ramps will continue in his role for some time to come.

[Shelsey93]

Hello all! Apologies for an extended absence from these boards over the winter. I intend to be around from now on through the summer, particularly here in the county section.

Middlesex played Surrey in a two-day game at Merchant Taylors' School on Thursday and Friday. The match had an unusual format (each team batted for a block of 60 overs in their first innings and then a block of 20 overs in their second innings). Middx scored more runs in total so it is possible to say that they 'won', even though their bowling was quite disappointing.   The pitch was flat from what I've heard with few wickets falling and several batsmen retiring out. Adam Rossington was the top-scorer for Middlesex with Dexter and Balbirnie also making 50s. Steven Finn's return was a positive with the ball - he was economical and apparently bowled a 'cracking' delivery to remove Ansari (words from Surrey website report, written by Mark Church I believe).

The Guardian are reporting that Dan Christian could be Middx's T20 signing. I'm not a massive fan of his but he may be the best available given the new format.

I've written a preview of Middx's season here - http://deepextracover.com/2014/03/21/time-for-middlesex-to-deliver/#.Uy2BWPl_uSp. Expectations will be high...

[Guest]

he's a shocking player he really is!! I never understand why Christian gets so much praise

[Shelsey93]

he's a shocking player he really is!! I never understand why Christian gets so much praise

Had a terrible time with Gloucs last year and is very bits-and-pieces. The problem all counties have this year is that its hard (from both a practical and a financial point-of-view) to get a really good T20 signing in. Some have got round this by having an overseas for all formats that is a capable T20 player, but Middx obviously have Rogers, who doesn't play T20, for the Champo...

[Shelsey93]

Across the four-day friendly that started at Taunton today and the MCC v Durham game, seven Middlesex batsmen got to 20 today. All of them got out before reaching 30... at least they know what they need to work on...

[Shelsey93]

The second Middlesex pre-season match, at Taunton against Somerset, finished as a draw. Somerset dominated however with ex-Middx all-rounder Josh Davey taking five second innings wkts for the county he is trialling for. After a very disappointing first innings the Middx batsmen got on better second time round, but there is still work to do before the season starts. The last pre-season game is away at Hampshire.

[guildfordbat]

Hi Shelsey - I get the impression that Finn has done ok in Middlesex's two pre-season matches and is on the mend?

[Shelsey93]

Hi Shelsey - I get the impression that Finn has done ok in Middlesex's two pre-season matches and is on the mend?

Reports from Mark Church and from Middlesex's media manager suggest he did well in the game against Surrey at Merchant Taylor's. A report on Surrey's website, written by Church I assume, described a delivery to remove Ansari as 'cracking'. His figures were much less flattering at Taunton but I haven't heard whether he bowled well and was unlucky or just bowled badly. He needs to time to find his way again and, for me, that means he shouldn't be taken out of any cricket this summer. They need to just let him keep bowling and see how he gets on.

[Shelsey93]

Middlesex had an outstanding first day of their two-day friendly v Hampshire at the Rose Bowl. They reached 377-5 by the close with Robson in the runs as he always seems to be these days. He retired on 107 but Malan (99) and Dexter (91) appear to have got out going for it ahead of the landmark and inevitably being called in.

Denly made only 16 and so if the 5 batsmen + Simpson, Berg and 4 bowlers balance is retained he might end up missing out. I'm thinking that they might leave out Berg, though. He's having some trouble with his shoulder and, though he should be fit for Sunday according to Richard Scott who I spoke to at press day yesterday, the case for picking him isn't that strong.

I guess Middx will be in the field tomorrow. It could be something of a shoot-out between Harris and Roland-Jones for the last spot in the Championship team.

[Shelsey93]

Middlesex enjoyed another excellent day as their pre-season came to close. Wickets were shared around between Roland-Jones, Finn and Rayner as Hampshire were bowled out with an hour or so left and miles behind Middlesex's score. Rather than the Middlesex batsmen come out Hampshire followed on and lost a couple of wickets before hands were shaken.

I'm expecting this team on Sunday v Sussex: Rogers, Robson, Denly, Malan, Morgan, Dexter, Simpson, Rayner, Roland-Jones, Murtagh, Finn. Tough on Berg and Harris but great that competition for places is so high.

Sorry to self-promote again but my piece with Richard Scott is now up - http://deepextracover.com/2014/04/02/full-armoury-available-to-scott-for-trip-to-hove/. Other bits from press day, with youngster Ryan Higgins and with Sam Robson and Ollie Rayner will follow over the next few days.

[guildfordbat]

Shelsey - please feel free to keep on self-promoting! Another fine article.

I take it - with Gus Fraser's England duties - that Scott's role at Middlesex is becoming more prominent. That's good and understandable although I'm not sure Giles and Warks are on the same page yet.

The expected Middlesex team for Sunday looks strong and pretty well balanced. Certainly a vote of confidence for Finn - not just his inclusion but playing him as one of only three front line seamers. An extra and perhaps safer bowling option might have been to include Berg for one of the batsmen but I don't really see who and, all in all, feel the suggested team is the right one.

Surrey - as they normally are - were interested when Harris came on the market in 2012. I wasn't too disappointed when Middlesex beat us to his signature. Hard to put my finger on but I've seen him a couple of times 'live' and just wasn't fully convinced. Ah well, hope he stays fit this season and has a chance to prove me wrong even though it may not be on Sunday.

[Shelsey93]

Harris's big issue is fitness. He looks to have had a steady pre-season but Roland-Jones is, I would say, a tad ahead of him. They may see it differently. Berg played for most of last season but he didn't have a terrific year in truth. If playing Finn as one of three front-line seamers is seen as too much of a risk I think Denly would miss out.

An interesting point you make on Scott's role. I'd imagine that Fraser, who has always been an off-field manager rather than a hands-on coach, won't be attending quite as many games as he did previously (he almost always travelled with the first XI last year). Certainly I'd say that Scott will be doing the bulk of the media stuff with Fraser unable to speak quite so freely because of his England hat. Its too early to say for sure, and me speaking to him rather than Fraser on Monday more reflected the fact that Gus was in demand by people more important than me more than anything, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[LOVERBOY]

An interesting selection for Hove,where The Middle chose to go without a regular spinner and selected four front line quicks on what admittedly looked a seamer friendly track.Dexter bowled too in an effort to speed up the over rate,but one wonders if four will do a better job than three,especially as it weakens the batting and fielding to some degree.I would suspect Berg would normally be included instead of one of them when fully fit.Sussex spinner Zaidi certainly turned a few on the first day,and in retrospect the inclusion of England hopeful Rayner might have been a better bet.Rossington for Denly was not entirely unexpected,but he along with most of the others showed a lack of application and failed to deal effectively with the moving ball.Much improvement will be required all round if a championship challenge is to be mounted.

[Shelsey93]

An interesting selection for Hove,where The Middle chose to go without a regular spinner and selected four front line quicks on what admittedly looked a seamer friendly track.Dexter bowled too in an effort to speed up the over rate,but one wonders if four will do a better job than three,especially as it weakens the batting and fielding to some degree.I would suspect Berg would normally be included instead of one of them when fully fit.Sussex spinner Zaidi certainly turned a few on the first day,and in retrospect the inclusion of England hopeful Rayner might have been a better bet.Rossington for Denly was not entirely unexpected,but he along with most of the others showed a lack of application and failed to deal effectively with the moving ball.Much improvement will be required all round if a championship challenge is to be mounted.

Agree with you entirely. I'm sceptical about all-seam attacks in general. There is usually a time in the game where you wished you'd picked a spinner, even on a seaming pitch in April. Dexter is usually pretty handy when its swinging around so I'm not sure the fourth specialist seamer was needed.

Rossington for Denly is interesting. I probably expected Denly to start but I guess this is Gus a/ recognising Denly's poor form last year and in pre-season and Rossington's strong form and b/ giving Rossington a chance from the start rather than having to come in when there is a problem. Rossington's definitely at a stage of his career where he needs to break into the Championship side and I'd back him to come good.

[Shelsey93]

Dan Christian has been confirmed as signing for the T20... this has been common knowledge for a while. I must say I'm not a huge Christian fan. He's a bits-and-pieces type who might do a good job at times but is unlikely to be the difference between another mid-table one-day campaign and a real challenge. The field of potential players is thin but I'd like to think that their must of been somebody better placed to fill the death bowling role, which is what Middx really need from the overseas in my opinion.

[LOVERBOY]

Fine one day player on his day, but inconsistent and unpredictable, as well as a poor disciplinary record.MCC will not take kindly to someone wrecking their dressing room.

[Guest]

Dan Christian is awful! One of the most over-rated cricketers going!

[jimbohammers]

Shelsey, how did Vince look yesterday?

Shocked he is not involved with England