MATCH PREVIEW: Lancashire v Middlesex, Rothesay County Championship
Lancashire v Middlesex
Rothesay County Championship, Division Two
Monday September 15 - Thursday September 18, 2025, 10.30am
Emirates Old Trafford
TEAM NEWS:
Mitch Stanley has been ruled out with a trunk injury sustained against Kent in the County Championship - which also caused him to miss Finals Day.
Tom Hartley is unavailable as he joins up with England for their IT20 series in Ireland - alongside Jos Buttler,Phil Salt and Luke Wood.
Saqib Mahmood will miss the series after undergoing a minor procedure on his knee.
We have got into the territory of snookers required if Lancashire are going to win promotion this summer.
They are not mathematically out of things just yet, but last week’s rain-affected draw against Kent at Canterbury did them absolutely no favours even though Mitch Stanley had a memorable week with 11 wickets.
With two games remaining, sixth-placed Lancashire (139 points) are 41 behind second-placed Glamorgan (180) with only 48 more points to play for. Of course, there’s a scenario which sees Lancashire promoted. But it would be quite a miraculous one.
Realistically, the Red Rose county will be preparing for another season in Division Two in 2026.
Middlesex, likewise. They are fourth (150) and 30 points behind Glamorgan, whose penultimate week opponents are third-placed Derbyshire at Derby.
Both Lancashire and Middlesex drew weather-affected games last week. Middlesex drew at home to Derbyshire at Lord’s.
The Red Rose were beaten semi-finals by Somerset at Vitality Blast Finals Day on Saturday.
Opposition
Like Lancashire with Steven Croft, Middlesex are being led by an interim head coach for the remainder of the season, and he’s a familiar face to all of a Red Rose persuasion.
Former Lancashire captain Dane Vilas, who was London-based during his playing days at Emirates Old Trafford, took on his first head coaching assignment in mid-June when Middlesex parted ways with Richard Johnson after a poor start to the season.
Vilas led Middlesex to the quarter-finals of the Metro Bank One-Day Cup last month.
Middlesex have won four Championship matches from 12 this season, also drawing four and losing four. It’s the latter which has hurt them the most in their bid for promotion.
Captained by South African batter Leus du Plooy, they have signed England fringe fast bowler Olly Stone on loan from Nottinghamshire for the remainder of the season.
Top-order batter Max Holden is their leading Championship run-scorer this season with 898 from 11 matches, though he didn’t face Derbyshire last week.
Like New Zealand overseas star Kane Williamson, he was injured last week.
Skilful seamer Ryan Higgins is the joint leading wicket-taker in Division Two with 39 alongside Derbyshire’s ex-Lancs all-rounder Luis Reece.
Veteran Middlesex new-ball seamer Toby Roland-Jones is not far behind with 38.
Opposition player to watch
All-rounder Ryan Higgins, aged 30, is enjoying an excellent Championship campaign having taken 39 wickets and scored 468 runs in the middle order.
Higgins has formed a potent new-ball partnership with Toby Roland-Jones.
Far from the quickest seamer in county cricket, he is certainly one of the most skilful.
He is more Darren Stevens in his style of bowling than a Jofra Archer, for example.
Higgins can win a game with ball or bat. His record of 12 first-class hundreds and eight first-class hauls of five wickets or more tells you that.
Previous meeting
The reverse fixture - the opening game of the 2025 season - finished drawn at Lord’s at the start of April.
This was a high-scoring affair which Lancashire had the better of early on before Middlesex came back into things having conceded a first-innings lead of 99.
Seamer Tom Aspinwall claimed four wickets on the opening day to help bowl the inserted hosts out for 260, the Red Rose closing on 68-0.
Overseas Australian debutant Marcus Harris then starred with an excellent 138 to underpin the Red Rose’s 359 all out response, though they would have hoped for more from 287-4.
But their hopes of victory were raised when Middlesex, second time around, slipped to 7-2 thanks to two early Tom Bailey wickets.
Unfortunately, however, Max Holden’s recovery 184 from number three led his side to 407 all out, a lead of 308. Bailey finished with an impressive 5-79.
Lancashire had two sessions to chase a 309-target, and they started brightly thanks to openers Keaton Jennings (44) and debutant Michael Jones (49), who shared 93 inside 21 overs.
But, unfortunately, the momentum couldn’t be maintained, and Middlesex took regular wickets to give themselves a victory chance.
In the end, Lancashire closed on 262-8, with Harris adding 52.
Middlesex took 11 points, Lancashire 13.
What they said
Steven Croft is backing 11-wicket quick Mitch Stanley to build on his impressive display in last week’s draw against Kent at Canterbury.
Stanley, in his second year at Emirates Old Trafford, has only played two County Championship matches, with his workload carefully managed because of injuries.
Aged 24, the fast bowler has played both games against Kent this summer - the first at Blackpool.
In the return fixture, at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence, he returned match figures of 11-180 - 5-80 in the first innings and 6-100 in the second.
He is on the England radar having played for the Lions last winter and a First-Class Counties XI this summer.
Lancashire interim head coach Croft said: “I think for anyone who puts in a performance like that, and who’s relatively inexperienced, it’s going to be a massive help.
“As sportsmen, when you get your first five-for or hundred, it definitely puts you at ease a bit and makes you feel like you belong at that level.”
How’s Stat!
Australian overseas batting star Marcus Harris has returned home following a fabulous first season with Lancashire.
In the draw at Kent, he took his season’s haul of Championship runs to 1,027 from 10 matches, including three hundreds and five fifties.
The left-hander averaged 60.41 and is third in the list of leading run-scorers in Division Two behind Northamptonshire’s Saif Zaib (1,192) and Kent’s Ben Compton (1,275).