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Middlesex County Cricket Club
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Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex would be changing their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the Middlesex Panthers. Kit colours are dark blue and pink quarters and from 2007, Middlesex have worn exclusive pink shirts during their Twenty20 matches in support of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity.
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Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex would be changing their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the Middlesex Panthers. Kit colours are dark blue and pink quarters and from 2007, Middlesex have worn exclusive pink shirts during their Twenty20 matches in support of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer charity. To go along with their re-branding, Middlesex will also have a new main sponsor for their 2009 season.
The club plays most of its home games at Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, which is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club. The club also plays some games around the county at the Walker Ground in Southgate which hosts the annual Middlesex County Cricket Festival, Uxbridge CC in Uxbridge and The Old Deer Park in Richmond (home of Richmond CC).
Middlesex CCC has an indoor school based in Finchley and the Middlesex Academy officially opened in October 2003 to provide specialist coaching to the 12 best county prospects.
Currently the former Middlesex and Sussex batsman Toby Radford is the 1st XI Coach and Shaun Udal has been appointed County Captain for the 2009 season. Angus Fraser has been appointed to the newly created role of Managing Director of Cricket with effect from January 2009. He will be responsible for cricketing matters at all levels from the 1st XI to grass roots.
In 2008, Middlesex became the current Twenty20 Cup Champions and therefore also historically became the first County Cricket Club to qualify for both the Stanford Super Series and the Twenty20 Champions League.
Honours
- Champion County (1) - 1866; shared (1) - 1878
- County Championship (10) - 1903, 1920, 1921, 1947, 1976, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1990, 1993; shared (2) - 1949, 1977
- FP Trophy (4) - 1977, 1980, 1984, 1988
- National League (1) - 1992
- Division Two (1) - 2004
- Twenty20 Cup (1) - 2008
- Benson & Hedges Cup (2) - 1983, 1986
Second XI honours
- Second XI Championship (5) - 1974, 1989, 1993, 1999, 2000; shared (0)
- Second XI Trophy (1) - 2007
- Minor Counties Championship (1) - 1935; shared (0)
History
Earliest cricket
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 and History 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 .
The earliest known match in Middlesex took place at Lamb's Conduit Field in Holborn on 3 July 1707 involving teams from London and Croydon . In 1718, the first reference is found to White Conduit Fields in Islington, which later became a very famous London venue .
The earliest known reference to a team called Middlesex is on 5 August 1728 when it played London Cricket Club "in the fields behind the Woolpack, in Islington, near Sadlers Wells, for £50 a side" . This was also the earliest known first-class match involving a Middlesex team .
For information about Middlesex county teams before the formation of Middlesex CCC, see: Middlesex county cricket teams
Origin of club
There are references to earlier county organisations, especially the MCC 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 the London Tavern. Formal constitution took place on 2 February 1864. The creation of the club was largely through the efforts of the Walker family of Southgate, which included several notable players including the famous V E Walker, who in 1859 became the first player to take 10 wickets in an innings and score a century in the same match.
Early history
Middlesex CCC played its initial first-class match versus Sussex 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 at Lillie 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 at Prince's Cricket Ground from 1872 to 1876, and began using Lord's Cricket Ground in 1877.
20th century
The club has produced several noted players, particularly the great batsmen Patsy Hendren, Bill Edrich and Denis Compton.
Bill Edrich scored 1000 runs before the end of May in 1938. 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 Championship in 1947 thanks to the unprecenented run scoring of Compton and Edrich. They both passed Tom Hayward's 1906 record of 3518 runs in a season with Compton making 3816 at 90.86 and Edrich 3539 at 80.43 with a dozen centuries. Compton's 18 centuries surpassed Jack Hobbs' former record of 16, set in 1925. Together with Jack Robertson's 2214 runs and Syd Brown's 1709 and the bowling of Jack 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 of Mike Brearley and Mike Gatting from 1971 to 1997. Brearley proved as astute for his county as he did for his country in the 1970s and early 1980s. His team included Gatting and England spin bowlers John Emburey and Phil Edmonds; and overseas fast bowlers such as Wayne Daniel.
Recent history
In 2007 Middlesex had mixed fortunes in Domestic Cricket. In the 4-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 at The 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 the Twenty20 Champions League and the Stanford 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 one just position.
Records
Team records
- Highest Total For - 642-3 declared v Hampshire at Southampton 1923
- Highest Total Against - 850-7 declared by Somerset at Taunton 2007
- Lowest Total For - 20 v MCC at Lord's 1864
- Lowest Total Against - 31 by Gloucestershire at Bristol 1924
Batting records
- Highest Score - 331 JDB Robertson v Worcestershire at Worcester 1949
- Highest Score Against - 341 CM Spearman for Gloucestershire at Gloucester 2004
- Most Runs in Season - 2669 EH Hendren in 1923
Most runs for Middlesex
Qualification - 20,000 runs
Bowling records
- Best Bowling - 10-40 GOB Allen v Lancashire at Lord's 1929
- Best Bowling Against - 9-38 RC Robertson-Glasgow for Somerset at Lord's 1924
- Best Match Bowling - 16-114 G Burton v Yorkshire at Sheffield 1888
- Best Match Bowling Against - 16-100 JEBBPQC Dwyer for Sussex at Hove 1906
- Wickets in Season - 158 FJ Titmus in 1955
Most wickets for Middlesex
Qualification - 1,000 wickets
Wicketkeeping records
Most dismissals for Middlesex
Qualification - 500 dismissals
| Wicketkeeper | Dismissals |
|---|
| John Murray | 1,224 (1,024 catches & 200 stumpings) (1952–1975) | | Fred Price | 940 (629 catches & 311 stumpings) (1926–1947) | | Joe Murrell | 779 (516 catches & 263 stumpings) (1906–1926) | | Leslie Compton | 596 (467 catches & 129 stumpings) (1938–1956) | | Paul Downton | 547 (484 catches & 63 stumpings) (1980–1991) | |
Best partnership for each wicket
* - Indicates that the partnership was unbroken
Team records
- Highest Total For - 337-5 (45 overs) v Somerset at Southgate 2003
- Highest Total Against - 353-8 (45 Overs) by Hampshire at Lord's 2005
- Lowest Total For - 23 (32 overs) v Yorkshire at Leeds 1974
- Lowest Total Against - 41 (19.4 overs) by Northamptonshire at Northampton 1972
Batting records
- Highest Score - 163 AJ Strauss v Surrey at The Oval 2008
- Highest Score Against - 163 CJ Adams for Sussex at Arundel 1999
Bowling records
- Best Bowling For - 7-12 WW Daniel v Minor Counties East at Ipswich 1978
- Best Bowling Against - 6-28 AW Greig for Sussex at Hove 1971
Best partnership for each wicket
- 1st - 210* PN Weekes & ET Smith v Northumberland at Jesmond 2005
- 2nd - 223 MJ Smith & CT Radley v Hampshire at Lord's 1977
- 3rd - 165 MR Ramprakash & JD Carr v Nottinghamshire at Lord's 1993
- 4th - 220 EC Joyce & JWM Dalrymple v Glamorgan at Lord's 2004
- 5th - 147 MR Ramprakash & JD Carr v Leicestershire at Leicester 1992
- 6th - 142* BL Hutton & NRD Compton v Lancashire at Shenley 2002
- 7th - 132 KR Brown & NF Williams v Somerset at Lord's 1988
- 8th - 112 DC Nash & AA Noffke v Sussex at Lord's 2002
- 9th - 73 DC Nash & ARC Fraser v Northamptonshire at Lord's 1999
- 10th - 57* EJG Morgan & Mohammad Ali v Somerset at Bath 2006
* Denotes not out/unbroken partnership
2009 squad
Source:
Staff
Club presidents
Club chairmen
Club captains
Club coaches
Club scorers
Club secretaries
Managing Directors of Cricket
See also
External sources
Further reading
- H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
- Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
- Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
- Roy Webber, The Playfair Book of Cricket Records, Playfair Books, 1951
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