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| One Day name | Middlesex | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personnel | ||||
| Captain | Leus du Plooy | |||
| One Day captain | Ben Geddes | |||
| Coach | TBA | |||
| Chief executive | Andrew Cornish[1] | |||
| Team information | ||||
| Colours | First-class: White shirts White trousers List A: Blue shirts Blue trousers T20: Pink & blue shirts Blue trousers | |||
| Founded | 1864 | |||
| Home ground | Lord's | |||
| Capacity | 31,100 | |||
| History | ||||
| First-class debut | Sussex in 1864 at Cattle Market Ground, Islington | |||
| Championship wins | 11 (plus 2 shared) | |||
| Sunday League wins | 1 | |||
| Benson & Hedges Cup wins | 2 | |||
| One-Day Cup wins | 4 | |||
| Twenty20 Cup wins | 1 | |||
| Official website | Middlesex CCC 17 June 2025 | |||
| ||||
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of eighteenfirst-classcounty clubs within the domesticcricket structure ofEngland andWales. It represents thehistoric county ofMiddlesex which has effectively been subsumed within theceremonial county ofGreater 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 theCounty Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.[1]
The club plays most of its home games atLord's Cricket Ground, which is owned byMarylebone Cricket Club, inSt John's Wood. The club also plays some games at theUxbridge Cricket Club Ground (historically Middlesex) and theOld Deer Park inRichmond (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 theBreakthrough 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 twoBenson & Hedges Cups, fourone-day cricket titles, oneNational League and theTwenty20 Cup, through which they became the first county club to qualify for both theStanford Super Series and theTwenty20 Champions League.
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 andHistory 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.[7]
The earliest known match in Middlesex took place atLamb's Conduit Fields inHolborn on 3 July 1707 involving teams from London and Croydon.[8] In 1718, the first reference is found toWhite Conduit Fields inIslington, which later became a very famous London venue.[7]
The earliest known reference to a team called Middlesex is on 5 August 1728 when it playedLondon Cricket Club "in the fields behind the Woolpack, in Islington, near Sadlers Wells, for £50 a side".[8] This was also the earliest known match involving a Middlesex team.
For information about Middlesex county teams before the formation of Middlesex CCC, see:Middlesex county cricket teams
There are references to earlier county organisations, especially theMCC 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 theLondon Tavern. Formal constitution took place on 2 February 1864. The creation of the club was largely through the efforts of theWalker family of Southgate, which included several notable players including the famousV. E. Walker, who in 1859 became the first player to take 10 wickets in an innings and score a century in the same match.
Middlesex CCC played its initial first-class match versusSussex 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 atLillie 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 atPrince's Cricket Ground from 1872 to 1876, and began usingLord's Cricket Ground in 1877.
The club has produced several noted players, particularly the great batsmenPatsy Hendren,Bill Edrich andDenis Compton.
Bill Edrich scored1,000 runs before the end of May in1938. 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 Championshipin 1947 thanks to the unprecedented run scoring of Compton and Edrich. They both passedTom Hayward's1906 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 surpassedJack Hobbs' former record of 16, set in 1925. Together withJack Robertson's 2,214 runs andSyd Brown's 1,709 and the bowling ofJack 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 ofMike Brearley andMike 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 bowlersJohn Emburey andPhil Edmonds, and overseas fast bowlers such asWayne Daniel.
In 2007 Middlesex had mixed fortunes in Domestic Cricket. In the four-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 atThe 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 theTwenty20 Champions League and theStanford 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 theMiddlesex 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 2022 they secured promotion back to the top flight of the County Championship on the penultimate day of the season by finishing runners up to Nottinghamshire in Division two.
| Year | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsors | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First-Class | One-Day | T20 | ||
| 2003 | Crusader Sport | Northern Rock | ||
| 2004 | ||||
| 2005 | ||||
| 2006 | ||||
| 2007 | ||||
| 2008 | MKK Sports | |||
| 2009 | Ignis | |||
| 2010 | ||||
| 2011 | ||||
| 2012 | Brooks Macdonald | |||
| 2013 | ||||
| 2014 | ||||
| 2015 | ||||
| 2016 | ||||
| 2017 | Nike | |||
| 2018 | ||||
| 2019 | Brooks Macdonald | JMAN Group | Kingspan | |
| 2020 | Perfect Smile | Knight Frank | ||
| 2021 | ||||
| 2022 | Knight Frank | |||
| 2023 | ||||
| 2024 | Castore | Dafabet | ||
| 2025 | ||||
Most runs for Middlesex
Qualification – 20,000 runs[9]
| Batsman | Runs |
|---|---|
| Patsy Hendren | 40,302 (1907–1937) |
| Mike Gatting | 28,411 (1975–1998) |
| Jack Hearne | 27,612 (1909–1936) |
| Jack Robertson | 27,088 (1937–1959) |
| Bill Edrich | 25,738 (1937–1959) |
| Clive Radley | 24,147 (1964–1987) |
| Eric Russell | 23,103 (1956–1972) |
| Denis Compton | 21,781 (1936–1958) |
| Peter Parfitt | 21,302 (1956–1972) |
Most wickets for Middlesex
Qualification – 1,000 wickets[10]
| Bowler | Wickets |
|---|---|
| Fred Titmus | 2,361 (1949–1982) |
| J. T. Hearne | 2,093 (1888–1923) |
| J. W. Hearne | 1,438 (1909–1936) |
| Jim Sims | 1,257 (1929–1952) |
| John Emburey | 1,250 (1973–1995) |
| Jack Young | 1,182 (1933–1956) |
| Jack Durston | 1,178 (1919–1933) |
| Alan Moss | 1,088 (1950–1963) |
| Frank Tarrant | 1,005 (1904–1914) |
Most dismissals for Middlesex
Qualification – 500 dismissals[11]
| Wicketkeeper | Total dismissals | Period | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Catches | Stumpings | ||
| John Murray | 1,223 | 1,023 | 200 | 1952–1975 |
| Fred Price | 940 | 629 | 311 | 1926–1947 |
| Joe Murrell | 765 | 502 | 263 | 1906–1926 |
| John Simpson | 658 | 621 | 37 | 2009–2023 |
| Leslie Compton | 566 | 437 | 129 | 1938–1956 |
| Paul Downton | 547 | 484 | 63 | 1980–1991 |
| Partnership | Runs | Players | Opposition | Venue | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st wicket | 376 | Sam Robson &Mark Stoneman | v.Sussex | Hove | 2021 |
| 2nd wicket | 380 | Frank Tarrant &Jack Hearne | v.Lancashire | Lord's | 1914 |
| 3rd wicket | 424* | Bill Edrich &Denis Compton | v.Somerset | Lord's | 1948 |
| 4th wicket | 325 | Jack Hearne &Patsy Hendren | v.Hampshire | Lord's | 1919 |
| 5th wicket | 338 | Robert Lucas &Tim O'Brien | v.Sussex | Hove | 1895 |
| 6th wicket | 270 | John Carr &Paul Weekes | v.Gloucestershire | Lord's | 1994 |
| 7th wicket | 271* | Patsy Hendren &Frank Mann | v.Nottinghamshire | Nottingham | 1925 |
| 8th wicket | 182* | Mordaunt Doll &Joe Murrell | v.Nottinghamshire | Lord's | 1913 |
| 9th wicket | 172 | Gareth Berg &Tim Murtagh | v.Leicestershire | Leicester | 2011 |
| 10th wicket | 230 | Richard Nicholls &Mickey Roche | v.Kent | Lord's | 1899 |
| Source:Highest Partnership for Each Wicket for Middlesex CricketArchive.com; Last updated: 14 April 2024 | |||||
* – Indicates that the partnership was unbroken
* Denotes not out/unbroken partnership
The Middlesex squad for the current 2026 English cricket season:
| No. | Name | Nationality | Birth date | Batting style | Bowling style | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batters | ||||||
| 4 | Max Holden* |  England | (1997-12-18)18 December 1997 (age 27) | Left-handed | Right-armoff break | |
| 9 | Aaryan Sawant | England | (2005-11-15)15 November 2005 (age 20) | Right-handed | Right-armoff break | |
| 12 | Sam Robson* ‡ | England | (1989-07-01)1 July 1989 (age 36) | Right-handed | Right-armleg break | |
| 14 | Ben Geddes | England | (2001-07-31)31 July 2001 (age 24) | Right-handed | Right-armmedium | |
| 76 | Leus du Plooy |  South Africa | (1995-01-12)12 January 1995 (age 30) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | Hungarian passport; Club captain |
| All-rounders | ||||||
| 18 | Nathan Fernandes | England | (2004-04-26)26 April 2004 (age 21) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | |
| 25 | Josh de Caires | England | (2002-04-25)25 April 2002 (age 23) | Right-handed | Right-armoff break | |
| 29 | Ryan Higgins* | England | (1995-01-06)6 January 1995 (age 30) | Right-handed | Right-armfast-medium | |
| 56 | Luke Hollman | England | (2000-09-16)16 September 2000 (age 25) | Left-handed | Right-armleg break | |
| Wicket-keepers | ||||||
| 17 | Jack Davies | England | (2000-03-30)30 March 2000 (age 25) | Left-handed | — | |
| 48 | Joe Cracknell | England | (2000-03-16)16 March 2000 (age 25) | Right-handed | — | |
| Bowlers | ||||||
| 2 | Naavya Sharma | England | (2005-09-10)10 September 2005 (age 20) | Right-handed | Right-armfast-medium | |
| 7 | Tom Helm* | England | (1994-05-07)7 May 1994 (age 31) | Right-handed | Right-armfast-medium | |
| 8 | Henry Brookes | England | (1999-08-21)21 August 1999 (age 26) | Right-handed | Right-armfast-medium | |
| 10 | Noah Cornwell | England | (2004-09-10)10 September 2004 (age 21) | Left-handed | Left-armfast-medium | |
| 13 | James Feldman | England | (2007-06-13)13 June 2007 (age 18) | Right-handed | Right-armfast-medium | |
| 16 | Sebastian Morgan | England | (2007-08-30)30 August 2007 (age 18) | Right-handed | Right-armfast-medium | |
| 19 | Blake Cullen | England | (2002-02-19)19 February 2002 (age 23) | Right-handed | Right-armfast-medium | |
| 21 | Toby Roland-Jones* ‡ | England | (1988-01-29)29 January 1988 (age 37) | Right-handed | Right-armfast-medium | |
| 22 | Ishaan Kaushal | England | (2002-02-09)9 February 2002 (age 23) | Right-handed | Right-armfast-medium | |
| 77 | Zafar Gohar ‡ |  Pakistan | (1995-02-01)1 February 1995 (age 30) | Left-handed | Slow left-arm orthodox | Domestic player |
Source:[12]
Source: Middlesex CCC[16][21][22]
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