Sussex vs Middlesex, County Championship Two, Today Match Prediction 26 September 2024

SUS vs MID Match Prediction & Analysis

Sussex take on Middlesex in the last round of the second division county championship at the county cricket ground in Hove, Brighton.

Having clinched their promotion to the top-flight with a game to spare, runaway leaders Sussex will be looking to finish their successful season on a high note with an impressive performance against the third-ranked Middlesex.

The London county are no pushovers. In fact, they have a lot to play for, with a potential second place finish in sight. They’ll believe that a spirited effort against Sussex in the final round will help them displace Yorkshire from the second spot, but it’s not going to be easy facing up to Sussex in this form. But Middlesex will take confidence from the fact that they have dominated Sussex in their last five meetings, with 3 wins and 2 draws.

But a draw won’t cut it for Middlesex however with 15 points still separating the second-placed Yorkshire and them.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Sussex Preview

An innings victory over Gloucestershire in the previous round confirmed Sussex’s promotion to the first division with a game in hand. And that’s an incredible feat by a team that has had to wait for 10 long years to move up to the rank and earn their right to compete with much stronger teams in the first division.

With 8 wins from 13 games, Sussex played like true champions this season and have been far and away the team to beat. Captain and wicket keeper John Simpson, with over 1100 runs for the season, has led the way brilliantly with the bat with five centuries and three hundreds. Tom Alsop has plundered close to 750 runs without bringing up a ton, whereas opener Tom Haines has chalked up over 700 runs courtesy two hundreds and two fifties.

To wax lyrical just about the batting group would not be fair to an exciting bowling group that has far exceeded expectations in this tournament. In addition to 458 runs from 13matches, the off spinner has bagged a lot of wickets with 47 scalps from 13 matches that puts him right behind Yorkshire’s Ben Coad and Middlesex’s Toby Roland Jones on the leader board.

Ollie Robinson is not far behind either, with 38 wickets from 11 games, and the pacer has been aided well by Jayden Seales and Jaidev Unadkat who have 44 wickets between them.

Sussex Predicted Playing XI:

Tom Haines, Oliver Carter, Tom Clark, Tom Alsop, James Coles, John Simpson(w/c), Jack Carson, Bertie Foreman, Ollie Robinson, Henry Crocombe, Jaydev Unadkat.

Middlesex Preview

Skipper Toby Roland-Jones played a typical captain’s role to ensure Middlesex stayed in the fight for the last promotion spot. The seamer picked up five-wicket hauls in both the innings to rout Derbyshire inside three days.

Middlesex’s shocking loss to Gloucestershire at home in the twelfth round meant Yorkshire climbed into the second position with a fifteen-point lead. But Middlesex didn’t let it affect them one bit and bounced back strongly with a strong performance, pushing promotion race into the final round. Yorkshire’s big win against Glamorgan in their recent match means they still hold on to that lead going into the final round. And that has kind of added a lot of spice around how these teams are going to go about their final match of the season and who is going to clinch the second spot

 And coming up against Sussex they’re going to need all their leading run scorers of the season to contribute in a big way, including Ryan Higgins (1093 runs from 12 games at 72 average ), Max Holden (957 runs from 13 games at 50), JL du Plooy (949 runs from 13 games at 52) and Sam Robson (759 runs from 10 games at 54).

36 year old Tom-Roland Jones with 52 wickets is the t wicket taker, but there’s daylight between him and the rest with Ryan Higgins and Ethan Bamber at 30 wickets each holding the second and third spot for most wickets for Middlesex this season.

Middlesex Predicted Playing XI:

Sam Robson, Mark Stoneman, Max Holden, Leus du Plooy, Ryan Higgins, Jack Davies(w), Josh De Caires, Luke Hollman, Toby Roland-Jones(c), Ethan Bamber, Noah Cornwell

Weather Conditions

The pitches here have been good batting tracks with the hosts posting 400+ totals four times and a mammoth 600+ score once. The fastest double century of the county championship came here a few months ago when Leicestershire’s Louis Kimber went berserk and plundered 20 fours and 21 sixes to score 243 off 127 in a losing cause. The wicket wears out as the match goes on, bringing in spinners into play. Weather-wise, the forecast looks good and we should get four complete days of cricket.

SUS vs MID Pitch Report

The match is being held at the County Cricket Ground in Hove, Brighton where Sussex have drawn one and won five in their six appearances so far in the season.

Toss: To Bowl

Toss isn’t going to play a big part in the outcome of the contest, but Sussex would be happy to bat and put a huge total on board having notched wins after electing to bat first on a few occasions. Middlesex wouldn't mind as teams batting second have won matches here after opting to field first, as well.