Minus their batting big guns, Middlesex face an experimental season

T20 BLAST PREVIEW: Eoin Morgan will be off leading England, AB de Villiers is not returning to the county, and Dawid Malan has moved to Yorkshire. That's 1,100+ Blast runs in 2019 gone in a puff of smoke...

Coach: Stuart Law

Captain: TBA

Last season: Quarter-finals

Fixtures: August 27 - Essex (a, 2pm); August 29 - Kent (h, 2pm); August 31 - Sussex (h, 6.15pm); September 3 - Essex (h, 6.15pm); September 5 - Surrey (a, 6.35pm); September 12 - Hampshire (h, 2pm); September 14 - Surrey (h, 6.15pm); September 16 - Kent (a, 2pm); September 18 - Sussex (a, 2pm); September 20 - Hampshire (a, 1pm)

How did they do last year?

Middlesex came third in the South Division, in front of Essex but just behind, Sussex and Gloucestershire. They finished the group stages having played 14, won seven, lost six and with one no result. They finished up on equal points with Essex, sitting at 15, but sat above them due to net run rate.

Their journey came to an end in the last eight, as they were pummelled by Nottinghamshire, losing by 10 wickets.

Middlesex batted first and achieved a respectable 160 for 8 in which England’s Eoin Morgan scored 53 off 31 balls. Middlesex bowlers were unable to strike in the Notts innings, Mujeeb ur Rahman going for 10.25 an over, Tom Helm for 11.11 and Steve Finn for 14 an over. Nottinghamshire cruised to 165 for 0 off just 16.2 overs.

Who are their key players?

Nathan Sowter: Middlesex will look towards Australia-born legspinner Sowter as one of their main bowlers. Impressing in the Blast 2019, he took 16 wickets, with a decent economy of 8.43. At 27, he still harbours aspirations of an England call-up one day, and repeat performances in this year's competition won't do him any harm.

Tom Helm: In last year’s tournament, Helm showed Middlesex his class with best figures of 3 for 27 against Essex. He helped limit the Eagles in the group stages to 164 for 6, with an impressive economy of 6.75. If he can remain consistent, he will certainly be useful up top against the opening batsmen, and useful at the death.

Stevie Eskinazi: With Dawid Malan and AB de Villiers, and Eoin Morgan off with England – Eskinazi is among Middlesex's more experienced batting options. The county's red-ball captain averaged 32 with the bat in last year's Blast from nine innings, striking above 130.

His contribution in boundaries for Middlesex was important - only Malan managed more than his 34 fours for Middlesex in 2019 as he racked up 256 runs in total, with two half-centuries

If he can remain consistent with the bat this year, he will certainly help give Middlesex a shot of reaching the latter stages.

Toby Roland-Jones: Roland-Jones took the most wickets for Middlesex last year (19), at a strike rate of 13.9.

Roland-Jones will look to take early wickets to stem the flow of runs - and, with best figures of 5 for 21, he is capable of running through sides.

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What are their strengths?

Bowling. With Sowter, Helm and Roland-Jones Middlesex will bowl well at the death. Sowter can limit the amount of runs that the opposition score whilst Helm and Roland-Jones will look to take the key wickets throughout the opposition batting line-up.

Where might they have a weakness?

They have lost a lot of players this year, whether due to international commitments or Covid-19 restrictions. AB de Villiers (348 runs), Malan (490 runs), Eoin Morgan (341) were all in the top three batting statistics for Middlesex in 2019.

Without them, they may be a little light in the top order, relying on new or emerging players to hit big runs. That is not to say that it can’t be done, but big pressure may mount on those shoulders.

Moreover, last year in the Blast Middlesex were bottom of the rankings in playing against spin, scoring just over six runs per over. They will need to make sure they don’t get bogged down and are able to find their boundary options, and avoid relying on taking the quicks to the boundary.

Chances of reaching Finals Day?

Unlikely. With their main players not available to play and uncertainties surrounding the team it will be a difficult run for the Seaxes to make Finals Day. They’ve lost their best batters which weakens their line-up.

Strongest XI: Max Holden, Nick Gubbins, Stevie Eskinazi, Martin Andersson, Dan Lincoln, John Simpson, James Harris, Toby Roland-Jones, Tom Helm, Nathan Sowter, Thilan Walallawita

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