Going into the final weekend, the first team were in fourth place - two points behind Hampshire, three points behind Surrey and five points behind Buckinghamshire, the only other county to win the title in the last six seasons. However, a remarkable run of results from 4-4 against Leicestershire in the Saturday AM match saw the county run out 7-4 winners against Leicestershire and 11-0 winners against both Yorkshire and Buckinghamshire. This catapulted us to the top of the table with a nine-point margin of victory over runners-up Hampshire.
Kent and Lancashire were promoted and will join the first team in the Premiership next season. Sadly, Leicestershire and Yorkshire were relegated from the Premiership to the Championship. This is Middlesex's fourth Premiership win in the last five completed seasons (Middlesex was on course to win the 2019/20 season but Covid unfortunately cancelled it, meaning in reality we won five of the last six). Given that Middlesex had not previously won the Premier division since the 1952/53 season and had only won seven times in our history before the first of our most recent wins in 2017/18, it's a remarkable run of success.
The team on the final weekend was Dinuka Karunaratne, Rohan Thool, Angus Pedersen, Sachin Dias, Jacob Reynolds, Freya Patel-Redfearn, Thilini Hendahewa, Vanessa Chien and Zoe Hallam. The first team was also represented this season in the first two weekends by Robert Golding, Victor Liew, Danny Leinster, Sonish Hathi, Evelyn Yu, Anna George and Libby McMorrow. Well done to all the players and to team manager Mark McCanney.
The second team managed to hang on to their place in Division 1 South by the smallest of margins thanks to a fighting final weekend. The third team almost managed the impossible as they had a significant margin to make up to avoid relegation in Division 2 South East, and very nearly did it, losing out on countback only. They are relegated to Division 3 next season to join the fourth team who retained their position in Division 3 South East.
Many thanks to all players, supporters and managers for the past season. Onto the next!
Kent and Lancashire were promoted and will join the first team in the Premiership next season. Sadly, Leicestershire and Yorkshire were relegated from the Premiership to the Championship. This is Middlesex's fourth Premiership win in the last five completed seasons (Middlesex was on course to win the 2019/20 season but Covid unfortunately cancelled it, meaning in reality we won five of the last six). Given that Middlesex had not previously won the Premier division since the 1952/53 season and had only won seven times in our history before the first of our most recent wins in 2017/18, it's a remarkable run of success.
The team on the final weekend was Dinuka Karunaratne, Rohan Thool, Angus Pedersen, Sachin Dias, Jacob Reynolds, Freya Patel-Redfearn, Thilini Hendahewa, Vanessa Chien and Zoe Hallam. The first team was also represented this season in the first two weekends by Robert Golding, Victor Liew, Danny Leinster, Sonish Hathi, Evelyn Yu, Anna George and Libby McMorrow. Well done to all the players and to team manager Mark McCanney.
The second team managed to hang on to their place in Division 1 South by the smallest of margins thanks to a fighting final weekend. The third team almost managed the impossible as they had a significant margin to make up to avoid relegation in Division 2 South East, and very nearly did it, losing out on countback only. They are relegated to Division 3 next season to join the fourth team who retained their position in Division 3 South East.
Many thanks to all players, supporters and managers for the past season. Onto the next!