Toby Roland-Jones replaces Tim Murtagh as Middlesex red-ball captain

Murtagh led Middlesex to promotion in 2022 but has taken on a player-coach role for the coming season

Toby Roland-Jones will captain Middlesex in the County Championship in 2023, replacing Tim Murtagh.

Murtagh took over when Peter Handscomb departed early from his overseas stint, leading the county to promotion back to Division One, five years after their relegation a season after winning the title. He has since been named as a player-coach for the upcoming campaign, with Murtagh turning 42 in August.

Roland-Jones, heading into his fourteenth season with Middlesex, enjoyed a tremendous summer after years of injury problems; he was the leading first-class wicket-taker in the country through 2022, picking up 67 at 18.8 apiece, while also remaining fit for the duration and earning a late Hundred deal with London Spirit.

"Tim and Pete did exceptional jobs last season in leading us back up into Division One of the Championship, and with Tim's superb record as captain, when we've won or drawn 75 per cent of the games he's captained over the last two seasons, it would have been very easy for us to have asked him to skipper the side again this year," said Richard Johnson, Middlesex' first-team coach.

"That said, with him now moving into a player-coaching role this year, we've made the tough decision to give the captaincy to another senior playing member of the group. I would however like to go on record in thanking Murts for all he has done for the side, and he can rightly be extremely proud of his record as captain."

^{Stephen Eskinazi will continue as white-ball captain (Harry Trump/Getty Images)}

He added: "I can't think of a more obvious successor to Murts for the captaincy role of our Championship side than Toby."

Murtagh insisted to The Cricketer in a January interview that he hadn't made up his mind about whether 2023 would be his final year as a player – he is 15 wickets short of 1,000 for Middlesex across all formats – but this call perhaps nudges him closer to that point.

"I think in my mind I've probably got this down as my last season and look to move on from that, but who knows?" he said.

In white-ball cricket, Stephen Eskinazi will continue as captain. How much he is around remains to be seen; it seems improbable that the opener – a Big Bash winner with Perth Scorchers over the winter – won't belatedly be involved in The Hundred, which would rule him out of the Royal London Cup.

Middlesex are also battling a uniquely dismal T20 Blast record; in an attempt to correct that, they are expected to recruit a pair of overseas players, one of whom is expected to be a batter. Pieter Malan is already signed up for the summer and could feasibly feature across all three formats.

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