Winning is a habit...

And seemingly it's one that Middlesex have even at this very early stage of the season.

Much of the success of last year has been given to the flying start that we made, which was down to a successful pre-season, both in training and the warm-up matches. Already we're three from three in our friendlies, with wins over Kent, a MCCL representative team, and Essex, and Middlesex are guaranteed a win today as the Neil Dexter XI take on the Dawid Malan XI. Hopefully the teams for that will have been decided by the two captains, who each picked a player in turn...

The main point of the warm-up games, aside from getting match fitness, is to get some time in the middle and some confidence. Which is why it's great to see flying starts from Malan, who made a ton against Kent, Toby Roland-Jones who's taken 6 wickets cheaply in his two games, and Steven Crook, who blazed a 29-ball fifty against Essex. Crooky is a genuine all-rounder, and while he didn't contribute as much as we'd have liked last year with the bat (although he nearly got us over the line when all seemed lost in the CB40 game against Yorkshire), it's great to see him striking it clearly. If he gets both parts of his game going, he could be a formidable player.

On Malan - after going without a one day ton for so long, he's now got two, both against Kent (even if this was just a friendly). In fact, up to the start of last season, his List A performances were incredibly disappointing, with 742 runs at just 19.53 and a high score of 60. Since then, however, he's made 512 runs at 42.67, 3 fifties and a ton, and if you include the Kent game, he's averaging 49.23 since the start of last year. His turnaround in the quarters has been remarkable, and could well be due to his elevation as an opener. After a slowish start to last season, it would be great to see Malla hit the ground running and really stamp his mark on Division One. Now one of the more senior players, (having been given the responsibility of captaining a side in today's friendly, one would assume he's third in line to the throne behind Dexter and Rogers), 2012 could be a big season for Malan. Let's hope so anyway!

Middlesex's next port of call is the University game against Durham at the weekend, and it will be interesting to see what side is named, as chances are that will be the side that takes to the field in just over a week's time to play Somerset. Come on the Middle!