Udal trusts in tried and tested

Middlesex captain Shaun Udal believes sticking with the tactics which brought them Twenty20 Cup glory is their best hope of success in the Stanford Super Series.

Udal’s team-mate Ed Joyce was in charge when Middlesex beat Kent in the final at the Rose Bowl in July after club captain Ed Smith suffered an ankle injury earlier in the campaign.

However, Udal took over from Joyce at the beginning of September and, in the continued absence of Smith, was appointed skipper for the trip of a lifetime to Antigua.

Smith spent part of last winter analysing Twenty20 statistics to develop a match-winning game plan and Udal intends to stick to that formula.

This has included showing faith in his own off-spin, and slow left-armer Murali Kartik, plus using bowlers in single-over bursts so opposition batsmen find it hard to settle.

Udal told ecb.co.uk: “We’ve played Twenty20 so well there’s no point in changing anything.

“We’ve got something that works and I don’t think there’s any point trying to change it to be honest.”

Shaun Udal intends to implement the game plan that payed dividends in the Twenty20 Cup this season

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Middlesex first team coach Toby Radford will name his strongest available side for the Crusaders’ first two fixtures, against England on Sunday and Trinidad & Tobago a day later.

However, the unused members of the 15-man squad could come into contention for Middlesex’s final match against the Stanford Superstars next Thursday.

Udal admits that the Trinidad & Tobago clash is the game his side are most determined to win.

Not only would this give them bragging rights over the West Indies domestic Twenty20 champions, it also carries the largest purse available to Middlesex.

He added: “Certainly for the first two games we’ll be picking our best side. I’ll be surprised if we change.

“Certainly whoever plays in the first game I’m sure will play in the second game and we’ll assess the last game after that.”

Middlesex are without star batsman Owais Shah, who is in the England squad and likely to face his county team-mates in their opening match.

Australian left-arm seamer Dirk Nannes, an important part of the triumphant Twenty20 Cup team, is also unavailable having returned Down Under to play for state side Victoria.

In their places, Middlesex have recruited young batsman Neil Dexter from Kent on a two-year deal and Warwickshire all-rounder Neil Carter on loan.

“We’ve lost Owais Shah so we had to replace him with a batsman, which we’ve done in Neil Dexter, and Dirk Nannes has gone back to Victoria so we didn’t have a left-armer on the staff,” Udal said.

“We brought Neil Carter on loan from Warwickshire, just a straight like-for-like left-arm over replacement for Dirk Nannes.

Neil Carter provides an extra batting option as well as bowling cover for the unavailable Dirk Nannes

“But Steven Finn’s done very well for us in Twenty20 this year. They’ll be vying for the last bowling spot and I’m very keen to give the Middlesex guys first hit at things so we’ll asses our options.”

The 39-year-old former England spinner is adamant that the two new signings will not disrupt the unity of Radford’s squad.

He expects Carter, in particular, to slip in seamlessly even if it is at the expense of England Under-19 starlet Finn.

“Everybody whose played Twenty20 cricket for Middlesex this year is in that squad. Nobody’s been left out.

“It’s not as if we’ve not picked Neil Carter for a Middlesex player. All the guys who played Twenty20 are included so it’s just literally a like-for-like replacement.

“I’ve got no worries; I know him (Carter) - he’s a nice guy.”

Udal is remaining focused on the task in hand and refused to speculate about the make-up of the squad for the Champions League which will be held in India in December.

Carter may feature in this party, as his loan runs up until the end of the year, while Smith could be in contention having failed to make the Stanford party.

“There’s no promises for anybody at the moment for the Champions League," added Udal. "We won’t be picking a squad until after Antigua so nobody’s assured of a place.”

For the time being, Udal is determined to stake a claim for the captaincy in India and to boost his bank balance.