Match Preview: Middlesex v Lancashire, Rothesay County Championship
Middlesex v Lancashire
Rothesay County Championship, Division Two
Wednesday September 2 - Saturday September 5, 2026, 10.30am.
Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood
Neither Middlesex or Lancashire were able to make much headway during the last round of matches because of the wet weather.
While Lancashire were drawing at Worcestershire, Middlesex were doing likewise away at Derbyshire. Both games failed to complete their first innings.
With Lancashire realistically out of the promotion race prior to the Worcester game, the weather interruptions would have been more of a frustration for Middlesex, who are within striking distance of the top two.
They are 38 points adrift of second-placed Kent and fifth in the table.
This is the first of four matches all starting at 10.30am now that we are in September,
Opposition
Middlesex are captained by South African batter Leus du Plooy and coached by ex-New Zealand batter Peter Fulton. They are not fielding an overseas player at present.
They have so far played 10, won three, lost four and drawn three compared to Lancashire’s won two, lost five and drawn three.
This is Middlesex’s third season in Division Two after relegation in 2023. Unfortunately, Lancashire came down the following summer.
Last season, they finished fourth in Division Two under the coaching stewardship of ex-Lancashire captain Dane Vilas, who was in interim charge.
Fulton took over at the start of the summer, arriving from Canterbury in his homeland. He won four-day and one-day silverware with them.
Opposition player to watch
Captain Leus du Plooy is Middlesex’s leading run-scorer in Championship cricket this season, with 775 runs from 10 matches with two hundreds.
He is the third leading run-scorer in Division Two.
Du Plooy, 31, is with his second county in English cricket having previously played for Derbyshire.
He is left-hander who is a versatile player. He mixes power and poise and has had success across all formats, including various franchise competitions. He is within 700 runs of 10,000 in his first-class career.
Born in South Africa, he holds a Hungarian passport and doesn’t qualify as an overseas player.
Previous meeting
At the start of May, Middlesex beat Lancashire by six wickets inside three days at Emirates Old Trafford.
A low-scoring contest which saw only one total in the match above 200 had the visitors chasing a target of only 117, which they achieved with comfort.
Inserted, Lancashire were bowled out for 201 in their first innings, with opener Keaton Jennings top-scoring with 67 and seamers Toby Roland-Jones, Ryan Higgins and Seb Morgan all taking three wickets apiece for the visitors.
Captain Sir James Anderson then impressed with four wickets as the Red Rose secured a first-innings lead as Middlesex were bowled out for 169.
However, the game was turned on its head when Lancashire were bowled out for 84 second time around, with Higgins and another seamer in youngster Naavya Sharma claiming four wickets apiece.
The chase was then relatively straightforward for the visitors, although they did fall from 57-1 to 64-4 to start the odd flutter.
Opener Ben Geddes top-scored with 73 not out off 70 balls.
What they said
Red Rose head coach Steven Croft has been speaking about progression for his Lancashire side ahead of the final four games of the season.
The counties have only two full days between Championship matches this week, finishing the last round on Sunday and starting the next tomorrow.
Croft - before leaving New Road on Sunday evening - spoke about that, the season so far and the final month of the summer.
He said: “Looking at this one from a few weeks ago, it was always going to be a tough turnaround. We haven’t had four full days here, so from a fitness point of view we will be a fresher than what we anticipated we would be.
“The lads are dying to get it right with bat and ball, senior lads and junior.
“It (Middlesex) comes at a good time, and we don’t have to wait long for another opportunity to get better.
“We didn’t have much time on the field (at Worcester), but we did off it. We had some really good chats in the changing room as a group and individuals to try and up-skill and learn.
“It’s a big part of the game, not just on the field but learning off it.
“The likes of Jimmy in that changing room, Marcus, Keaton, myself and Ports have played a bit. There’s plenty of experience to go at.”
Croft added: “No doubt about it, we haven’t got the results we wanted, but it’s not through lack of effort.
“Some of the lads are at the start of their learning curve, and hopefully they get the realtors they need. That goes for everyone and not just the junior lads.
“We all want to get better.”
“We want to finish strongly. We have made mistakes this summer, and we want to put them right.”
How’s Stat!
Although Lancashire lost to Middlesex at Emirates Old Trafford earlier this year, their last defeat away to Middlesex was in 2017 at Lord’s.
This match is only the fourth time that Lancashire have not played Middlesex at Lord's in all their away Championship meetings. All the three away matches not played at Lord's have been staged at Uxbridge.
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