• Many congratulations to Mary Cracknell who has been awarded an OSCA (Outstanding Services To Cricket Award) by Middlesex. This is in recognition of her steadfast contribution to the Midd, wearing various hats, over many years. She has won the "Heartbeat of the Club" category. This is “for that special volunteer that your club simply couldn’t do without, often the roles they carry out are behind the scenes. They often undertake a number of different roles, and are always there to lend a hand”.

• Mary will receive her award at a lunch at Lord's next Sunday (August 6th). We will try to publish photos of Mary with her pot after that. In the meantime, click the link below to read our citation.

National T20 update –
• As Middlesex T20 Champs the Midd 1s traveled to Wanstead CC last Sunday for the London and South East play offs.
• In the round of the last 32 in the country, the Midd played Cambridge Granta, the winners of East Anglian Premier League’s T20. Some tight bowling and excellent fielding restricted Granta to 100 for 7 in their reduced allocation of 15 overs. A magnificent innings of 74 not out off only 39 balls by U17 Joe Cracknell saw the Midd home by 9 wickets in 9.5 overs. See pic for just one of a series of wonderful shots from Joe. What a talent Joe has. He played shots that mere mortal batters can only dream of!
• In the round of the last 16 in the country, the Midd were up against hosts Wanstead who currently lead the semi-pro Essex Premier League by 10 points. Their team included several contracted Essex players. We batted first and struggled for fluency with wickets falling regularly against tight spin bowling and some quite brilliant ground fielding (3 run outs). Wanstead took Cracknell's prized wicket early. At 62 for 5 we looked down and out. Then a fight back. A well-judged knock from Luke Hollman (23 from 23) followed by a fine partnership of 60 between Ethan Bamber (32 off 22) and Will Nicoll (29 not out off 27) saw us finish our 20 overs on 132 for 8. Respectable but even on the sticky pitch this always looked below par given the depth of Wanstead's batting.
• We started well. An athletic run out from the contactless Hughes in the first over followed by early wickets to seamers Price, Bird and Bamber. At the half way point Wanstead were around 57 for 4, so we were still in the game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t break the fifth wicket partnership which saw the hosts home in the 16th over and lead to some wild celebrations by the Wanstead faithful.
• So our great run has come to an end. Thanks lads for the excitement and wonderful cricket on the journey. To win the Middlesex T20 three times in the last 4 years against the likes of Ealing is a real achievement. Lets hope that our excellent U19T20 side can make it a clean sweep by winning the Middlesex U19 T20.

Middlesex Cup –
• Our 1s entertain Stanmore at the Midd on Sunday in the quarter Final of this 50 over competition - please come to support if you can. 1pm start.