T20 Blast 2022 team guide: Middlesex

Coach: Richard Johnson

Johnson is back at Lord's after three seasons away, and he has a fairly low bar to match in terms of T20 cricket. During Stuart Law's tenure, only once did Middlesex make it out of their group – and on that occasion, they were hammered in their quarter-final by Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge. Through that period, Johnson was working at The Oval as an assistant coach, primarily with Surrey's bowlers. He was part of the coaching staff that led the county to Finals Day in 2020, only to lose the behind-closed-doors final at Edgbaston.

Middlesex's disappointment in 2021 was best summed up by narrow defeats against Gloucestershire and Essex, just seven days apart. In the first, bad light at Radlett – where there are no floodlights – took the players from the field in farcical circumstances, with Middlesex two runs behind having been ahead an over earlier and still very much in with a shout.

A week later, they picked up five wickets in 10 balls to turn a game on its head, becoming favourites with one delivery left, only for Simon Harmer to scythe a leading edge beyond a despairing dive at short third man for the four runs required.

Captain: Stephen Eskinazi

Middlesex's best T20 cricketer of the last two years is their new skipper in the format. All being well following the recovery from a thumb injury, he will open the batting and attempt to reprise the form he has shown since 2020 in the game's shortest format. He replaces Eoin Morgan; the England skipper didn't have much luck during his time at the helm. The departures of Dawid Malan and Paul Stirling didn't in that regard – both are white-ball guns and would be sure-fire picks in the top six of most counties.

Morgan was only around for five games last summer, contributing 133 runs without reaching fifty. With a T20 World Cup coming up in the winter and the possibility that it might represent his last hurrah, Middlesex will hope that combination of events might just trigger a return to some of his best form.

^{Eoin Morgan was Middlesex's T20 captain [Getty Images]}

Overseas stars

Jason Behrendorff

The Australian left-armer was cherrypicked as a something close to a like-for-like replacement for Shaheen Shah Afridi. The Pakistani fast bowler was due to re-join Middlesex for the latter part of the group stage, having ended his initial stint in London early to return home ahead of his country's ODI series with West Indies. But with the limitations around his availability caused by those international commitments, it has since been decided that he won't return this year.

Behrendorff arrives on the back of an Indian Premier League campaign with Royal Challengers Bangalore, returning to Lord's where he claimed a World Cup five-wicket haul in 2019. He is hardly Shaheen, but at late notice isn't a bad piece of business.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Increasingly a staple of Middlesex's T20 cricket, the Afghan spinner is returning for a third stint with Middlesex, having first featured in 2019 – when the county made it to a rare quarter-final appearance. He has 17 wickets in 16 matches, with an economy rate around seven runs per over. In an often inexperienced side, his nous has been invaluable. Despite his age – Mujeeb is still only 21 – he has 190 wickets in 173 matches in the format. He is set to disappear temporarily to join Afghanistan's ODI series against Zimbabwe; Chris Green, the Australian off-spinning allrounder, has signed up as a partial replacement, having featured for Middlesex last year.

English stars

John Simpson

A fine county cricketer for a long time, the Middlesex wicketkeeper was rewarded last year with an England debut once the ODI squad was forced into isolation and a replacement group had to be picked. He featured in all three wins over Pakistan, before starring for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred: in a win over Manchester Originals, he smashed an unbeaten 71 off just 28 balls, with former county teammate Steven Finn coming in for particular punishment.

Stephen Eskinazi

Arguably the best player without a deal for The Hundred, Eskinazi has become the linchpin of Middlesex's T20 batting in the last two seasons. In 2020, he was the competition's second-highest run-scorer and last year finished eighth in the standings despite missing a couple of games due to injury.

He begins this campaign refreshed after a month off with a broken thumb suffered in the season opener against Derbyshire, where he hit a century before injuring himself in taking a sharp catch at first slip. Not necessarily your typical white-ball dasher, he has succeeded as much through touch and timing as raw power; his ton against Essex last season was just the second ever made at Lord's in T20 cricket.

Wildcard

Joe Cracknell

The 22-year-old was signed by London Spirit as a replacement for Dan Lawrence in 2021 on Morgan's personal recommendation, which in itself is high praise. With a game founded on a fearless uber-aggression, 18 of his 20 first-team appearances to date have come in the shortest format.

He enjoyed immediate success on his professional debut, with his second scoring shot a pull off Jamie Overton that made a hole in the roof of the scorers' box just beneath the Father Time weathervane at Lord's. Since then, there have been three Blast half centuries, and he has begun the second-team season in fine form. One to watch.

^{John Simpson offers clout with the bat and reliability with the gloves [Getty Images]}

BATTING

Power hitters

Of those who played regularly in 2021, the two who scored quickest – Stirling and Daryl Mitchell – are no longer available. Mitchell was Middlesex's leading six-hitter, though Eskinazi hit the most boundaries. Cracknell hits a long ball, while Max Holden has a Blast hundred and is an excellent reverse-sweeper. Morgan, of course, is key here: without an overseas batter lined up for the Blast his runs will be crucial if Middlesex are to improve on their woeful recent record in the competition. Martin Andersson could be picked as a powerful hitter in the top five, where he could provide a useful sixth bowling option.

Anchor

In a way, that's Eskinazi's job, given the way he bats. But there are several others in Middlesex's ranks – Mark Stoneman, Sam Robson, Robbie White (when fit following a dislocated shoulder) and Holden – who could all be called upon to play that role if required.

Jack Davies is another option – he made all four of his Blast appearances in 2020 – while academy youngster Atharva Prasad is considered among the next cabs off the rank. He smashed a rapid 70 for the second team in a 10-wicket defeat by Essex in the week ahead of the tournament.

Finisher

This has been Simpson's domain in the past, though his performances in The Hundred might tempt Middlesex to shunt him up the order – he's certainly a better player than to have made eight fifties in 115 innings. Otherwise, Middlesex have in Luke Hollman a leg-spinning allrounder who made his maiden Blast fifty against Kent last summer and has followed that this season with his first half century in first-class cricket. Green, when available, is another with form in the role.

Further down the order, Toby Roland-Jones, Tom Helm and – if required in the competition – Tim Murtagh all hit a long ball, as does Max Harris, a youngster yet to make his professional debut but with a reputation for clearing the ropes.

^{It is a big season for seamer Tom Helm [Getty Images]}

BOWLING

Speed merchants

Helm started the season in superb fashion before picking up a minor side niggle that ruled him out of Middlesex's County Championship fixtures through May, and that The Cricketer understands that his early-season form has earned him a Hundred deal with Birmingham Phoenix as a replacement for Matt Fisher.

He picked up just five wickets in last summer's Blast but has emerged as the club's go-to death bowler. Blake Cullen was their leading wicket-taker and impressed sufficiently to earn a Hundred gig; he claimed 20 wickets in 12 games, bowling with plenty of pace and earning two four-wicket hauls in the process.

Variation

Behrendorff offers the left-arm angle that Middlesex have been lacking, though he doesn't quite have the potency of Shaheen's yorker. Ethan Bamber has set it as his aim to become the club's best death bowler, while Hollman – a childhood teammate of Bamber at the same amateur club – offers one of several spin options. Thilan Walallawita's UK citizenship opens the door for him to feature, having previously had to compete with the overseas players. Mujeeb will certainly fill one spin berth when available, with the others then up for grabs.

Nathan Sowter is predominantly considered a white-ball bowler these days, and at times he was used up the order in an attempt to lengthen a shallow batting line-up last year. Whether he is selected might depend on how spin-heavy Middlesex are prepared to be.

Line and length

Murtagh turned out twice in last year's Blast, though an early hamstring injury in April might tempt Johnson to think better of using the old stager in the shortest format. Bamber admitted to The Cricketer ahead of this season that he was prouder of his white-ball exploits than his first-class success, even if he often went round the park, and he has spent part of his winter working on how to correct that trend. Harris, of similar height to Bamber, is much quicker and could be involved after starting the season well, while Toby Greatwood and Ishaan Kaushal are – like Harris – on rookie deals and could feature.

Problem areas

Afridi's absence leaves a hole that will take some filling by Behrendorff: two overs at the start and two at the end, all with extra pace and a left-arm angle. How Middlesex attempt to plug that gap will be fascinating.

^{Nathan Sowter offers variations with the ball [Getty Images]}

FIELDING

Who takes the gloves?

Simpson is first choice, with White second in line, though that might depend on his fitness. Cracknell is another option, while Daniel O'Driscoll is on a rookie contract. There are few better glovemen on the county circuit than Simpson, though.

Fixtures: May 26 – Gloucestershire (h, 4.30pm), May 27 – Hampshire (a, 7pm), May 29 – Glamorgan (h, 2.30pm), June 3 – Sussex (a, 7pm), June 5 – Kent (a, 2.30pm), June 7 – Hampshire (h, 4.30pm), June 9 – Surrey (h, 6.15pm), June 10 – Essex (a, 7pm), June 17 – Surrey (a, 6.30pm), June 19 – Kent (h, 2.30pm), June 21 – Glamorgan (a, 6.30pm), June 23 – Essex (h, 6.15pm), July 1 – Somerset (h, 6.15pm), July 3 – Gloucestershire (a, 2.30pm)

Squad: Stephen Eskinazi (c), Martin Andersson, Ethan Bamber, Jason Behrendorff, Joe Cracknell, Blake Cullen, Jack Davies, Josh de Caires, Toby Greatwood, Chris Green, Max Harris, Tom Helm, Max Holden, Luke Hollman, Ishaan Kaushal, Eoin Morgan, Tim Murtagh, Daniel O'Driscoll, Sam Robson, Toby Roland-Jones, John Simpson, Nathan Sowter, Mark Stoneman, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Thilan Walallawita, Robbie White

Possible XI: Max Holden, Stephen Eskinazi, Joe Cracknell, Martin Andersson, Eoin Morgan, John Simpson, Luke Hollman, Tom Helm, Blake Cullen, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Jason Behrendorff