2012 Fixtures Announced!

After months of planning and anxious anticipation all round, the fixtures for the 2012 season have finally been released. (and Middlesex's ones are available here). So what does all of it mean?

Well, first and foremost, it's nice to see Middlesex amongst the 'big boys', and finally involved in Division One fixtures again. Trips to Durham, Lancashire and Somerset will all be eagerly awaited, and with the first game of the season away in Taunton (starting on April 5th), appetites will certainly have been whet among the Middlesex faithful. However, it is noticeable that there is a very early start this year - with the university match against Durham Uni beginning in March! Fingers crossed that the weather stays good just as last year, with the outside practice and match preparation afforded by the rain-free spring last year, combined with the ability to hit the ground running and gain momentum without the disruption of the rain once the season was underway key to our promotion in 2011. (That was a long sentence that I think made sense, but probably didn't). With so many Championship games being played so early (7 before May is out), there is a distinct danger that poor weather will lead to a nationwide plague of draws, and a disappointing start to the season.

The first home game of the year will be against Surrey, and hopefully a third successive innings victory will follow against them lot from south of the river. In the year that Lord's will be out of action for quite a while, it's great news that six of the eight home CC games will be at HQ, as there was the distinct possibility that the archery would put paid to such thoughts. Four of the six CB40 games, and three of the five T20s will also be at Lord's, which is good news for all concerned.

There will be an increase in games at Uxbridge, with two CB40 and CC games as well as one T20 game being played at the outground (which is good news for Brunel students like me). Richmond again will host the one T20 game (Hampshire), but sadly there will be no trip to Southgate in 2012.

So what of the calendar itself? Well, all of the T20s are packaged nicely into a little 3 week slot with no 'distractions' of other formats, which should hopefully avoid situations like the Kent game last year where an awful lot of wickets fell to some very suspect shots from players playing in "T20 mode" during a first class game. (However, there is a week where Middlesex go from T20, to four day, to 40 overs, all within days of each other). Mostly the fixtures look fairly regulation, although the two days in July where we have to go from playing at Uxbridge on the Sunday to playing at Old Trafford on the Monday (after the long week of the Uxbridge festival) does look a tad worrying.

All in all, we play each team in Division One twice, as well as a few CB40 games and a few T20s too. Nothing that we didn't expect, but the announcement of the fixtures does still act as a glimmer of light of the summer ahead during the long, dark, cricketless winter that we're forced to endure until April 5th.