County Championship: Middlesex vs Derbyshire Preview

FILE PHOTO: Middlesex’s Steven Finn will be the danger man at Lord’s

Lord’s, the home of cricket, scene of a couple of the greatest days in our club’s history and host once again to us tomorrow in our second championship match of the summer.

As I suggested last night, Derbyshire travel with the same 13 that crossed to the west midlands last week. The final place would appear to rest between a batsman, David Wainwright and Jonathan Clare and will be based on the look of the track tomorrow morning.

I ‘d like to see one of the latter play for balance, especially as both are players capable of scoring good runs into the bargain. Chesney and Wes did well on the last day at Edgbaston, but I think an extra front-line seamer would be handy in this one, so Jonathan Clare would be my choice. Hughes would appear to be the most likely one to make way for him, so I expect to see the following side:

Madsen, Godleman, Durston, Chanderpaul, Redfern, Whiteley, Poynton, Clare, Palladino, Groenewald, Turner.

I’m obviously making that selection not having seen the wicket, but it would be a surprise to see anything other than a green-tinged track. A Lord’s Test match wicket is some way removed from an April county track and I fully expect to see Middlesex prepare a track to suit their strong seam attack. It would be good to win the toss, of course, but our hosts will be as aware as all other sides that a few early wins can galvanise a summer and put others under pressure. In producing ‘result’ wickets, there is an element of risk, but I would be surprised if this proved a high scoring game.

England man Steve Finn will be a danger man, but so too will be their skipper Chris Rogers, a former County Ground favourite who will be keen to impress against old colleagues. With Sam Robson and Joe Denly, he makes up a strong top three. Tim Murtagh has been a fine county bowler over several seasons now, while Roland-Jones is a highly-rated young seamer. With Neil Dexter one of the most underrated players on the circuit, it will be a stiff task for Derbyshire to come out on top against this announced twelve:

Chris Rogers (captain), Sam Robson, Joe Denly, Dawid Malan, Gareth Berg, Neil Dexter, John Simpson (wk), Ollie Rayner, Steven Finn, Tim Murtagh, Toby Roland-Jones, Gurjit Sandhu.

Stiff, but not impossible. Their supporters will look at our side and take little for granted, especially with the name Chanderpaul in the middle of the batting line up. I find this one a tough game to call, but be assured that Derbyshire’s side has enough talent to get a result in this one.

Self-belief is key. The talent is there without any doubt.