Middlesex County Cricket Club

Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial county of Greater London. The club was founded in 1864 but teams representing the county have played top-class cricket since the early 18th century and the club has always held first-class status. Middlesex have competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.[1]

Middlesex County Cricket Club
One Day nameMiddlesex
Personnel
CaptainFC/LA
Peter Handscomb
Stephen Eskinazi (interim)
t20
Eoin Morgan
CoachStuart Law
Overseas player(s)FC/LA
Peter Handscomb
t20
Mitchell Marsh
Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Chief executiveRichard Goatley
Team information
ColoursFirst-class:
White shirts
White trousers
List A:
Harlequin shirts
Blue trousers
T20:
Pink shirts
Blue trousers
Founded1864
Home groundLord's
Capacity30,000
History
First-class debutSussex
in 1864
at Cattle Market Ground, Islington
Championship wins11 (plus 2 shared)
Sunday League wins1
Benson & Hedges Cup wins2
One-Day Cup wins4
Twenty20 Cup wins1
Official websiteMiddlesex CCC
13 April 2019

First-class

One-day

T20

The club plays most of its home games at Lord's Cricket Ground, which is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club, in St John's Wood. The club also plays some games at the Uxbridge Cricket Club Ground (historically Middlesex) and the Old Deer Park in Richmond (historically Surrey). Until October 2014, the club played limited overs cricket as the Middlesex Panthers, having changed from Middlesex Crusaders in 2009 following complaints from Muslims and Jews.[2] On 24 October 2014, the club announced that they would use the name Middlesex County Cricket Club in all forms of the sport with immediate effect.[3] Limited-overs kit colours are dark blue and pink quarters and from 2007, Middlesex have worn exclusive pink shirts during their Twenty20 matches in support of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity. The club has an indoor school based in Finchley, the Middlesex Academy and a project at Radlett Cricket Club.

Middlesex have won thirteen County Championship titles (including 2 shared titles), the most recent in 2016. In limited overs cricket, they have won two Benson & Hedges Cups, four one-day cricket titles, one National League and the Twenty20 Cup, through which they became the first county club to qualify for both the Stanford Super Series and the Twenty20 Champions League.

Honours
See also: List of the competitive honours won by county cricket clubs in England and Wales

First XI honours
  • Champion County[4] (1) – 1866
  • County Championship (11) – 1903, 1920, 1921, 1947, 1976, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1990, 1993, 2016; shared (2) – 1949, 1977
Division Two (1): 2011
  • FP Trophy[5] (4) – 1977, 1980, 1984, 1988
  • National League[6] (1) – 1992
Division Two (1): 2004
  • Twenty20 Cup (1) – 2008
  • Benson & Hedges Cup (2) – 1983, 1986

Second XI honours
  • Second XI Championship (5) – 1974, 1989, 1993, 1999, 2000; shared (1) – 2013
  • Second XI Trophy (2) – 2007, 2018
  • Second XI T20 (2) – 2015, 2016
  • Minor Counties Championship (1) – 1935

Strong 1974 winning side included a batting line-up of international players in Roland Butcher,[7] Ian Gould, Phillip Edmonds, John Embury, Mike Gatting, Graham Barlow, Rodney Ontong, and Larry Gomes. R. P. Willows topped the batting and Phillip Edmonds the bowling, they also won the Warwick Pool Championship the same year.

History

Earliest cricket

It is almost certain that cricket reached London, and thereby Middlesex, by the 16th century. Early references to the game in London or Middlesex are often interchangeable and sometimes it is not clear if a particular team represents the city or the county.

See: History of cricket to 1696 and History of cricket 1697 - 1725

The first definite mention of cricket in London or Middlesex dates from 1680. It is a clear reference to "the two umpires" (the earliest mention of an umpire in what seems to be a cricket connection) and strongly suggests that the double wicket form of the game was already well known in London.[8]

The earliest known match in Middlesex took place at Lamb's Conduit Fields in Holborn on 3 July 1707 involving teams from London and Croydon.[9] In 1718, the first reference is found to White Conduit Fields in Islington, which later became a very famous London venue.[8]

The earliest known reference to a team called Middlesex is on 5 August 1728 when it played London Cricket Club "in the fields behind the Woolpack, in Islington, near Sadlers Wells, for £50 a side".[9] This was also the earliest known first-class match involving a Middlesex team.[10]

For information about Middlesex county teams before the formation of Middlesex CCC, see: Middlesex county cricket teams

Origin of club

There are references to earlier county organisations, especially the MCC Thursday Club around 1800, but the definitive Middlesex club is the present Middlesex CCC. The club was informally founded on 15 December 1863 at a meeting in the London Tavern. Formal constitution took place on 2 February 1864. The creation of the club was largely through the efforts of the Walker family of Southgate, which included several notable players including the famous V. E. Walker, who in 1859 became the first player to take 10 wickets in an innings and score a century in the same match.

Early history

Middlesex CCC played its initial first-class match versus Sussex CCC at Islington on 6 & 7 June 1864. In the same season, the club was a contender for the title of "Champion County". Middlesex played at Lillie Bridge Grounds from 1869 before leaving in 1872 due to the poor quality of the turf. The club nearly folded at this time, a vote for continuing being won 7–6. They played at Prince's Cricket Ground from 1872 to 1876, and began using Lord's Cricket Ground in 1877.

20th century

The Club has produced several noted players, particularly the great batsmen Patsy Hendren, Bill Edrich and Denis Compton.

Bill Edrich scored 1,000 runs before the end of May in 1938. He needed just 15 innings, with 4 centuries, and every run was scored at Lord's. Don Bradman gave him the chance to score the 10 runs he needed in the Australian tour match with Middlesex by declaring his team's innings early.

Middlesex won the County Championship in 1947 thanks to the unprecedented run scoring of Compton and Edrich. They both passed Tom Hayward's 1906 record of 3,518 runs in a season with Compton making 3,816 at 90.86 and Edrich 3,539 at 80.43 with a dozen centuries. Compton's 18 centuries surpassed Jack Hobbs' former record of 16, set in 1925. Together with Jack Robertson's 2,214 runs and Syd Brown's 1,709 and the bowling of Jack Young, Jim Sims, Laurie Gray and Compton and Edrich themselves, the championship was won. The following season Compton and Edrich made their record unbeaten stand of 424 for the 3rd wicket against Somerset at Lords.

Middlesex's most successful period coincided with the captaincies of Mike Brearley and Mike Gatting from 1971 to 1997. Brearley proved as astute for his county as he did for his country between 1971 and 1982. His team included Gatting and England spin bowlers John Emburey and Phil Edmonds, and overseas fast bowlers such as Wayne Daniel.

Recent history

In 2007 Middlesex had mixed fortunes in Domestic Cricket. In the 4-Day version of the game, the club finished 3rd of the nine teams in Division 2 of the Liverpool Victoria County Championship, narrowly missing out on promotion. However, 3rd place in Division 2 of the NatWest Pro 40 League was enough to earn them a place in the play-off final against Northamptonshire Steelbacks. Middlesex won that game comfortably and therefore gained promotion to Division 1 for the 2008 Season. There was less success in the two knockout cups where Middlesex failed to progress beyond the group stages of either tournament. In the Friends Provident Trophy they finished 7th of the ten teams in the Southern Division. Likewise in the Twenty20 Cup, 5th place of the six teams in the Southern Division was not good enough to see them progress.

In 2008, Middlesex won the Twenty20 Cup by beating Kent in the final at The Rose Bowl. As well as being the club's first major trophy for 15 seasons, the final was also memorable for Middlesex's record breaking 187/6 (the highest ever Twenty20 Cup Finals Day score) with Kent's retort of 184/5 (being second on the all-time list) and ensured that the Cup was decided on the last ball of the match. The victory is also made historic as Middlesex became the first County Cricket Club to gain entry to both the Twenty20 Champions League and the Stanford Super Series.

However 2008 also saw Middlesex suffer relegation in the Pro40 Division One (finishing in last place). And in a copy of their final standings from the previous season, Middlesex both failed to make it past the group stage in the Friends Provident Trophy and finished in 3rd place in the County Championship Division Two, again missing out on promotion by just one position.

It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the Middlesex Panthers, following complaints made by Muslim and Jewish communities.[2] On 24 October 2014, the club announced that the limited overs name will revert to Middlesex County Cricket Club (Middlesex CCC), with immediate effect.[3]

2011 saw a dramatic improvement in form for Middlesex, as they won the LV= County Championship Division Two for the first time in their history, sealing promotion to Division One for the 2012 season. They narrowly missed out on a place in the CB40 semi-finals, after coming joint top of their group with the Sussex Sharks, missing out only via net run-rate.

In 2016, Middlesex were unbeaten in the County Championship and secured the title on the final day of the season when they defeated one of their main challengers Yorkshire in the title decider at Lord's. A defeat for Middlesex in that match would have meant the title going to Yorkshire and a draw would have meant it going to Somerset.

The following season, 2017, Middlesex finished in the bottom two of the County Championship and were subsequently relegated down to the second Division. In seasons 2018 and 2019 they failed to gain enough points to secure promotion back up to Division one and will play in division two in 2020.

Records

First-class

Team records
  • Highest total for – 642–3 declared v. Hampshire, Southampton, 1923
  • Highest total against – 850–7 declared by Somerset, Taunton, 2007
  • Lowest total for – 20 v. MCC, Lord's, 1864
  • Lowest total against – 31 by Gloucestershire, Bristol, 1924

Batting records
  • Highest score – 331 J. D. B. Robertson v. Worcestershire, Worcester, 1949
  • Highest score against – 341 C. M. Spearman for Gloucestershire, Gloucester, 2004
  • Most runs in season – 2,669 E. H. Hendren, 1923

Most runs for Middlesex
Qualification – 20,000 runs[11]

BatsmanRuns
Patsy Hendren40,302 (1907–1937)
Mike Gatting28,411 (1975–1998)
Jack Hearne27,612 (1909–1936)
Jack Robertson27,088 (1937–1959)
Bill Edrich25,738 (1937–1959)
Clive Radley24,147 (1964–1987)
Eric Russell23,103 (1956–1972)
Denis Compton21,781 (1936–1958)
Peter Parfitt21,302 (1956–1972)

Bowling records
  • Best bowling – 10–40 G. O. B. Allen v. Lancashire, Lord's, 1929
  • Best bowling against – 9–38 R. C. Robertson-Glasgow for Somerset, Lord's, 1924
  • Best match bowling
    • 16–114 G. Burton v. Yorkshire, Bramall Lane, Sheffield, 1888
    • 16–114 J. T. Hearne v. Lancashire, Old Trafford, Manchester, 1898
  • Best match bowling against – 16–100 J. E. B. B. P. Q. C. Dwyer for Sussex, Hove, 1906
  • Wickets in season – 158 F. J. Titmus, 1955

Most wickets for Middlesex
Qualification – 1,000 wickets[12]

BowlerWickets
Fred Titmus2,361 (1949–1982)
J. T. Hearne2,093 (1888–1923)
J. W. Hearne1,438 (1909–1936)
Jim Sims1,257 (1929–1952)
John Emburey1,250 (1973–1995)
Jack Young1,182 (1933–1956)
Jack Durston1,178 (1919–1933)
Alan Moss1,088 (1950–1963)
Frank Tarrant1,005 (1904–1914)

Wicket-keeping records

Most dismissals for Middlesex
Qualification – 500 dismissals [13]

WicketkeeperDismissals
John Murray1,223 (1,023 catches & 200 stumpings) (1952–1975)
Fred Price940 (629 catches & 311 stumpings) (1926–1947)
Joe Murrell765 (502 catches & 263 stumpings) (1906–1926)
Leslie Compton566 (437 catches & 129 stumpings) (1938–1956)
Paul Downton546 (483 catches & 63 stumpings) (1980–1991)

Best partnership for each wicket
Partnership Runs Players Opposition Venue Season
1st wicket372Mike Gatting & Justin Langerv. EssexSouthgate1998
2nd wicket380Frank Tarrant & Jack Hearnev. LancashireLord's1914
3rd wicket424*Bill Edrich & Denis Comptonv. SomersetLord's1948
4th wicket325Jack Hearne & Patsy Hendrenv. HampshireLord's1919
5th wicket338Robert Lucas & Tim O'Brienv. SussexHove1895
6th wicket270John Carr & Paul Weekesv. GloucestershireLord's1994
7th wicket271*Patsy Hendren & Frank Mannv. NottinghamshireNottingham1925
8th wicket182*Mordaunt Doll & Joe Murrellv. NottinghamshireLord's1913
9th wicket172Gareth Berg & Tim Murtaghv. LeicestershireLeicester2011
10th wicket230Richard Nicholls & Mickey Rochev. KentLord's1899
Source: Highest Partnership for Each Wicket for Middlesex CricketArchive.com; Last updated: 23 October 2015

* – Indicates that the partnership was unbroken

List A

Team records
  • Highest total for – 380–5 (50 overs) v. Kent, Canterbury, 2019
  • Highest total against – 367–6 (50 overs) by Sussex, Hove, 2015
  • Lowest total for – 23 (32 overs) v. Yorkshire, Leeds, 1974
  • Lowest total against – 41 (19.4 overs) by Northamptonshire, Northampton, 1972

Batting records
  • Highest score – 166 M. D. E. Holden v. Kent, Canterbury, 2019
  • Highest score against – 163 C. J. Adams for Sussex, Arundel, 1999

Bowling records
  • Best bowling for – 7–12 W. W. Daniel v. Minor Counties East, Ipswich, 1978
  • Best bowling against – 6–28 A. W. Greig for Sussex, Hove, 1971

Best partnership for each wicket

* Denotes not out/unbroken partnership

Club captains

Current squad

The Middlesex squad for the 2020 season consists of:

  • No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt.
  • denotes players with international caps.
  •  *  denotes a player who has been awarded a county cap.
No. Name Nationality Birth date Batting Style Bowling Style Notes
Batsmen
4Max Holden England (1997-12-18) 18 December 1997Left-handedRight-arm off break
12Sam Robson*  England (1989-07-01) 1 July 1989Right-handedRight-arm leg break
16Eoin Morgan*  England[lower-alpha 1] (1986-09-10) 10 September 1986Left-handedRight-arm mediumt20 captain;
England white-ball contract;
England ODI & T20I captain
18Nick Gubbins* England (1993-12-31) 31 December 1993Left-handedRight-arm leg break
28Stephen Eskinazi* England (1994-03-28) 28 March 1994Right-handed—Interim FC captain
29Peter Handscomb  Australia (1991-04-26) 26 April 1991Right-handed—FC & List A captain;
Overseas player
43Dan Lincoln England (1995-05-26) 26 May 1995Right-handedRight-arm medium
48Joe Cracknell England (2000-03-16) 16 March 2000Right-handed—
All-rounders
5James Harris* Wales (1990-05-16) 16 May 1990Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
8Mitchell Marsh  Australia (1991-10-20) 20 October 1991Right-handedRight-arm fast-mediumT20 Overseas player
24Martin Andersson England (1996-09-08) 8 September 1996Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
56Luke Hollman England (2000-09-16) 16 September 2000Left-handedRight-arm leg break
Wicket-keepers
14Robbie White England (1995-09-15) 15 September 1995Right-handed—
20John Simpson* England (1988-07-13) 13 July 1988Left-handed—
23Jack Davies England (2000-03-30) 30 March 2000Left-handed—
Bowlers
7Tom Helm* England (1994-05-07) 7 May 1994Right-handedRight-arm fast
9Steven Finn*  England (1989-04-04) 4 April 1989Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
19Blake Cullen England (2002-03-31) 31 March 2002Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
21Toby Roland-Jones*  England (1988-01-29) 29 January 1988Right-handedRight-arm fast-mediumInterim FC vice-captain
32Thilan Walallawita England (1998-06-23) 23 June 1998Left-handedSlow left-arm orthodox
34Tim Murtagh*  Ireland (1981-08-02) 2 August 1981Left-handedRight-arm fast-medium
41Miguel Cummins  West Indies (1990-09-05) 5 September 1990Left-handedRight-arm fast-mediumKolpak registration
54Ethan Bamber England (1998-12-17) 17 December 1998Right-handedRight-arm fast-medium
72Nathan Sowter Australia (1992-10-12) 12 October 1992Right-handedRight-arm leg breakUK passport
88Mujeeb Ur Rahman  Afghanistan (2001-03-28) 28 March 2001Right-handedRight-arm off breakT20 Overseas player

Source:[14]

  1. Morgan has also played international cricket for Ireland.

Officers

Club presidents

Club chairmen

Board of Directors

Officers

Directors

Staff

Club secretaries

Chief executives

Managing directors of cricket

Club coaches

Club scorers
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See also

References

Notes
  1. ACS (1982). A Guide to First-Class Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles. Nottingham: ACS.
  2. Cramb, Auslan (2 February 2009). "Middlesex Crusaders cricket team changes name after complaints from Muslims and Jews". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  3. http://www.middlesexccc.com/articles/2014-10-24/middlesex-county-cricket-club-renames-its-one-day-side] Archived 24 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  4. An unofficial seasonal title sometimes proclaimed by consensus of media and historians prior to December 1889 when the official County Championship was constituted. Although there are ante-dated claims prior to 1873, when residence qualifications were introduced, it is only since that ruling that any quasi-official status can be ascribed.
  5. Formerly known as the Gillette Cup (1963–1980), NatWest Trophy (1981–2000) and C&G Trophy (2001–2006).
  6. Formerly known as the Sunday League (1969–1998).
  7. cricketarchive.com.
  8. G. B. Buckley, Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket, Cotterell, 1935.
  9. H. T. Waghorn, The Dawn of Cricket, Electric Press, 1906.
  10. "Classification of cricket matches from 1697 to 1825". 10 October 2012. Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
  11. Most Runs for Middlesex Cricket Archive
  12. Most Wickets for Middlesex Cricket Archive
  13. The Middlesex Cricket Archive Cricket Archive
  14. Middlesex CCC Players Archived 5 August 2012[Date mismatch] at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography
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