Third straight defeat leaves Northants Steelbacks in big trouble in One Day Cup

Having suffered avoidable defeats to both Derbyshire and Hampshire, the Steelbacks travelled to the Brunton Memorial Ground in Radlett to take on a Middlesex side that had also opened up with two defeats.

John Sadler's side needed a win to kick-start their faltering campaign, but were instead left licking their wounds again as the home side chased down Northants' 317 for nine with five wickets and 11 balls to spare.

An inexperienced bowling attack, shorn of senior pace pair Jack White, who failed to recover from the knee injury he picked up in Southampton on Friday, and the absent Ben Sanderson, was found wanting as Middlesex made chasing a testing target look comfortable.

The young seam bowling trio of Raphy Weatherhall, Gus Miller and Justin Broad all struggled to control the run-rate - although the latter did claim three wickets - and that proved costly as the home side eased to victory.

The loss means the Steelbacks have zero points from their opening three fixtures, and are going to have to produce something very special over their final five Group B games to stand a chance of the top three finish needed to reach the knockout stage.

They are back on the road on Friday when they travel to Chester-le-Street to take on Durham.

At Middlesex, Northants did produce a strong batting performance with the bat, recovering well from 122 for five to post 317.

Prithvi Shaw scored 76 from 58 at the top of the order, but after a collapse it was Miller with 73 from 68 balls and SaifZaib (58 from 77) who turned things around, Broad adding a quickfire 38 not out from 20 balls late on.

Middlesex started their reply edgily and were in a bit of bother at 90 for three.

But skipper and former England man Mark Stoneman showed his experience to steady the ship with 83, a score that was matched by Nathan Fernandes, with Jack Davies (31no from 17) and Martin Andersson (35no from 23) then powering their side home.

“We weren’t disciplined enough with the ball, I think that was clear," said young Steelbacks all-rounder Miller.

"Challenging the top of the stumps on that wicket it looked really tough to get it away and hard to force across the line.

"If we’d done that a bit better, I think the result could have been different.

“We had an inexperienced bowling attack and it’s great experience for everyone to come away with things we’ll do differently next time.

"Every time young bowlers, including myself, get a chance we’ll be better for it in the long run.”

What turned out to be a bit of mixed day for Miller, who claimed one for 58 from his seven overs, had started brilliantly with his batting, and he said: "On this outfield you’re going to get value for your runs, so the deeper you can take it and the longer you stay out there, the runs will come.

“As the partnership (with Saif Zaib) grew my scoring became much more fluent naturally without having to take any risks.

“They key for me is to always look to be positive. As soon as I get into a defensive mindset and look to just nudge and nurdle I can get myself into bad shapes, so I felt me and Saif did it well on a tricky wicket at times.

“Justin (Broad) was brilliant, we talk about setting up for the last few overs with the bat so to finish like that really gave us momentum with the ball and it was lovely to see him bowl a great spell up top."

Middlesex skipper Stoneman was relieved to see his side produce a strong performance, saying: "Prithvi Shaw played nicely for Northants, but the damage we were able to do with the ball early on kept them to a total we could chase.

“The first couple of games it was a shambles, really – we couldn’t string two balls together and it was way below what we expect of ourselves.

“So it was nice to get a win on the board and make strides towards where we want to get to.

"There’s always a bit of bounce and movement in the wicket here but when you do get used to the pitch, that bounce then becomes your friend and the ball absolutely flies off."

The loss at Middlesex means the Steelbacks are eighth in the Group B table, with only Lancashire beneath them, having played a game less.

The top three of Worcestershire, Hampshire and Derbyshire can all boast two wins out of two and four points.

The top three qualify for the knockout stages, with the Group winners going straight into the semi-finals, and the second and third-placed teams qualifying for a play-off to try and reach the last four.

Three of Northants' final four group games are at the County Ground, starting with Sunday's home date with Worcestershire.

They then host Somerset on August 7 and Lancashire on August 11, before wrapping the group stage up with a trip to Kent on August 14.

Quotes courtesy of Ben Kosky