(ESPN) Middlesex are highly unlikely to sign an overseas player for the 2024 season in a bid to alleviate the financial troubles which saw them placed under special measures by the ECB last year.
An investigation last year concluded that Middlesex had breached the County Partnership Agreement and the ECB’s financial regulations during a period of mismanagement, which resulted in a suspended points deduction and a reduction in the ECB’s central payments to Middlesex.
The club is also engaged in a long-running legal dispute with Richard Goatley, its former chief executive, and will play two T20 Blast home games at Chelmsford this summer in order to save money on temporary infrastructure at outgrounds.
Middlesex have made two high-profile additions to their squad for 2024, with Leus du Plooy and Henry Brookes joining from Derbyshire and Warwickshire respectively on long-term contracts, and director of cricket Alan Coleman said that making any further additions would be “unsustainable” given the club’s financial constraints.
“I think we’re pretty much done, if I’m honest,” Coleman said. “I don’t see us making too many more moves in the market. Given the salary cap that we’re under and the fact that things like flights and accommodation for overseas players are included in that, the most financial sense is to build a really strong domestic core of players where we get the most value for money.
“That’s why we’ve chosen to bring in Henry at this later stage and that will probably see us not moving the overseas market for this year. But I’m really excited by the fact that we can have 21 domestic-based cricketers representing us this year and hopefully continuing to grow a team that really can compete at the top level of domestic cricket in the next few seasons.”
Many counties are struggling to source viable overseas players for the T20 Blast in 2024, which clashes directly with the T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and the United States. “It’s going to be a real challenge for counties, and you can see agents working incredibly hard at the moment,” Coleman said.
“The added challenge to that is the cost of flying overseas players in and out, which really does make it unsustainable for us at the moment. I’m very excited we’re going with this domestic core of players for this year, and I think the players are quite excited to show off what they can do as well.”
