Middlesex vs Kent, County Championship Divison One, Today Match Prediction 27 April 2023

mdx vs kent Match Prediction & Analysis

Middlesex will be playing Kent in their second home game of the season. It was at this venue that Middlesex opened their account winning their first match of the County Championship.

The middle order finally stepped up to rescue an out-of-form batting lineup as Middlesex chased down 249 runs against Nottinghamshire. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement in the home team’s batting order.

They haven’t managed to take a lead in the 1st innings while batting second and their scores have been pretty low. Kent aren’t any better. They lost to Warwickshire by an innings and 14 runs after opting to bowl first.

It was a brilliant hundred from Zak Crawley in the next game that helped Kent draw the match against Essex. What is also worrying for Kent is that they’ve conceded 400+ in the first innings in both of their last outings.

The bottom placed Middlesex will be hoping to continue their bowling form and put the visitors on the backfoot.

TEAMS PREVIEW

Middlesex Preview

Skipper Roland Jones has led the bowling attack quite well in recent outings. In spite of trailing by 90 runs after the 1st innings, Middlesex managed to win their last match by 4 wickets.

Even in their previous loss to Northamptonshire, the bowlers gave Middlesex every chance to bounce back in the game. After the batters were bowled out for 149 runs batting first, the bowlers ensured that the Northants didn't get too far and bowled them out for just 198 runs.

Ethan Bamber and Ryan Higgins are other key bowlers for Middlesex. Higgins also scored a crucial 70-run knock at number 7 against Northamptonshire in the 1st innings. He followed it up with another fifty in the 1st innings against Nottinghamshire at Lord’s.

The good news for Middlesex is the top and middle order stepping up and making significant contributions. Mark Stoneman, Pieter Malan, and Max Holden are all key players in the middle order.

In the lower middle order Ryan Higgins has been consistent with three consecutive ffities in the 1st innigns for Middlesex. The hosts will be eager to capitalize on the opposition’s lack of wicket-taking in the 1st innings and their own batting gains in recent outings.

Middlesex Predicted Playing XI:

Sam Robson, Mark Stoneman, Pieter Malan, Stephen Eskinazi, Max Holden, John Simpson (wk), Ryan Higgins, Martin Andersson, Luke Hollman, Toby Roland-Jones (c), Ethan Bamber

Kent Preview

Even though the match ended in a draw, Zak Crawley’s hundred has great value to it for the sheer timing. Kent were coming into their last Test on the back of a huge loss against Warwickshire.

Another bowling failure where they conceded 400+ runs in the 1st innings and Kent were on the backfoot, staring at another loss. But Crawley had other plans as he and the other in-form opener Ben Compton added 162 runs for the 1st wicket.

There is no dearth of batting talent or experience in this lineup. Daniel Bell-Drummond comes in at number 3 followed by the experienced Joe Denly at 4. Whereas, the skipper and wicket-keeper batsman Sam Billings play at number 6.

Such a batting order will definitely have high expectations attached to it and Kent haven’t lived up to those in recent games. In their last win that came against Northamptonshire, Crawley scored 95 in the 1st innings while Compton was unbeaten on 114 in the second innings as Kent won by 7 wickets.

There is depth in the batting lineup that hasn’t been utilised to its full potential. And Billings will be hoping for a better performance from the middle order in this match. Matthew Quinn, Joey Evision, and Wes Agar will be among the key bowlers but none has been consistent or promising so far. 

Kent Predicted Playing XI:

Zak Crawley, Ben Compton, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Joe Denly, Jack Leaning, Jordan Cox, Sam Billings (c & wk), Joey Evison, Conor McKerr, Matthew Quinn, Michael Hogan

PITCH AND WEATHER CONDITIONS

Weather Conditions

This ground offers one of the best pitches for a competitive game of cricket. The pitch is a bit dry and also has a bit of grass which means there will be help for both spinners and seam bowlers. The ball comes on to the bat nicely and batters can play their strokes freely. Showers are expected on Day 1 of the match with a high of 13 degrees Celsius.

Venue Details

Lord’s in London will be the venue for this County Championship clash between Middlesex and Kent. The average 1st innings score on this ground is 310 runs. It gets difficult to chase in a 5-day game but the team should be able to score around 200-220 on the last day of a 4-day county match.

Toss: To Bat

Teams batting first have won 51 of the 143 Tests played on this ground. Both teams haven’t been great in scoring runs after opting to bowl first and to bat first is the best choice at this point in time.