Middlesex are set to sign New Zealand batsman Ross Taylor as an overseas player for the second half of their upcoming Royal London One-Day Cup competition.
While they have AB de Villiers and Mujeeb Ur-Rahman coming for the Vitality Blast competition, Middlesex will be without an overseas player for the County Championship. They begin that competition away to Northamptonshire on Friday. Bar a back injury to the young all-rounder Martin Andersson, they are at full strength.
However they are set to lose Eoin Morgan and Paul Stirling to international duty in the latter half of the 50-over competition and so have sought to strengthen their batting with the vastly experienced Taylor.
The 35-year-old is in the white-ball form of his life, and is third in the ICC’s ODI batting rankings and averages 48.34 in the format. He has previously had spells with Sussex and Nottinghamshire in the county game.
The stint will also double up as World Cup prep for Taylor, who was overnight named in the Black Caps’ squad for the tournament, which will be his fourth. Tom Blundell, uncapped in ODIs, was picked as reserve wicketkeeper in an otherwise settled squad. New Zealand are the first team to name their squad for the tournament that begins on 30 May.
Meanwhile, Middlesex plan to build a new ground in Barnet Copthall, next to Saracens’ Allianz Park, to use when Lord’s is unavailable.
