Middlesex vs Essex Vitality Blast Preview- 23rd June 2022 at Lords

Middlesex will be looking to bounce back from their recent Vitality Blast T20 South Group match where they were beaten by Glamorgan at Cardiff, with victory over Essex at Lords on Thursday.

Win only four wins in the competition so far, Middlesex’s hopes of qualifying for the quarter-finals looks slim but Essex who sit in fourth place in the group with five wins and 11 points from their ten games played so far, still will fancy their chances of reaching the quarter-final stage.

In the reverse fixture between these sides at Chelmsford recently, Essex beat Middlesex by 61 runs, so the hosts will be out for some sort of revenge.

Middlesex’s form in the Blast this season has been inconsistent. After winning their opening three matches then then went on a poor run of form which saw them suffer five successive defeats in a row before defeating Kent by seven wickets at Lords.

The hosts enjoy playing at Lords having won two matches played in the competition at the home of cricket. For Essex, they have suffered three defeats out of four games played away from Chelmsford.

Middlesex’s Blast Captain Steve Eskinazo is the home sides leading run scorer in the competition with 319 runs from 11 innings. The top order batsman is a destructive batsman who has already hit 39 fours and 11 sixes.

The home side haven’t a batter yet who has hit a hundred, but one man who is getting close to that mark is Joe Cracknell, who has scored 288 runs with a highest score of 68.

In the bowling department the ever reliable and ever green Toby Roland-Jones has already taken ten wickets in the competition along with Chris Green, but leading the way is a person that most people wouldn’t have expected to be the leading wicket taker.

Martin Andersson with 17 wickets has performed magnificently this campaign. With best figures of 3-32 and a strike rate of a wicket every 12.6 and an economy rate of 9.71

Essex’s young 23-year-old batter Michael Pepper has already hit over 300 runs in the Blast this campaign with a healthy average of 44.57, including three half-centuries.

Paul Walter is another batter that Middlesex will have to be wary off. Having already scored 255 runs at an average of 51 with a top score of 58 not out.

All rounder Matt Critchley is already looking an astute signing for Essex having scored 236 runs this season in the Blast and picked up 14 wickets at an average of 15.57, with a best this season of 3-22.

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