Match Preview: Hampshire v Middlesex - Specsavers County Championship

Hampshire's first home fixture of the season begins this Friday when they face 2016 Champions, Middlesex, at the The Ageas Bowl in the 2017 Specsavers County Championship.

Hampshire Squad:

Hampshire have named an unchanged 12-man squad from last week’s victorious opening Specsavers County Championship fixture against Yorkshire at Headingley.

The Opposition:

Middlesex begin the defence of their 2016 four-day crown at the The Ageas Bowl this weekend having not had a fixture in the opening game week.

Led by captain James Franklin, Middlesex have named a 13-man squad which includes England paceman Steven Finn, as well as a handful of players who have featured prominently as England Lions representatives over the winter, including Dawid Malan, Nick Gubbins  and Toby Roland-Jones,.

Former Australia batsman Adam Voges is also available for the visitors, having re-joined the club for a fourth spell over the winter.

Did You Know?

• 11 years ago, Michael Carberry hit 104 against Middlesex in his first Hampshire season.   
• Hampshire have lost just one of their last 13 home matches against Middlesex.
• Gareth Berg & Fidel Edwards will both make their 100^th first-class appearance in this fixture.

What The Team Say:

Hampshire Cricket Head Coach, Craig White said: “There’s going to be no easy games this year but we’re really looking forward to the challenge. I think we’ve taken a huge amount of confidence away from the game at Headingley and hopefully we can take that into the game against Middlesex.

“We had a couple of days off after the Yorkshire match and then we had a good training session yesterday and topped that up today – the boys seem to be in a really good place so we’re all looking forward to it.”

Full Hampshire Squad:

Coverage:

Live text commentary will be available via the Hampshire Cricket Twitter and Facebook pages. A feed to these will also be available on this page.

There will be ball-by-ball commentary available on BBC Radio Solent online at bbc.co.uk.

Weather Forecast:

Please follow the link for the latest weather forecast for The Ageas Bowl: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/weather/forecast/gcp185f25

Tickets:
Tickets for all four days of Hampshire’s match Middlesex at the The Ageas Bowl can be purchased online: https://www.eticketing.co.uk/ageasbowl, over the phone on 0844 847 1863, or by visiting the The Ageas Bowl’s Ticketing & Membership Office via normal working hours.