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M<\/span>iddlesex is unlike every other English county in at least one very important way. It doesn\u2019t actually exist. It was abolished by the London Government Act of 1963, persisted, in dotage, as a postal subdivision, until Royal Mail put it to sleep in 1996. Today, you\u2019ll find it on the tiles of Swiss Cottage Tube station \u2013 which are embossed with its badge of three seaxes \u2013 the pediment of the Sessions House in Clerkenwell, the mailing addresses of people who just won\u2019t let go, the minutes of Spelthorne council, the titles of three hospitals, a university, assorted sports teams and tournaments, and the cricket club.<\/p>\n Those who don\u2019t know any better will tell you English cricket is a country pursuit. It\u2019s not. Sport\u00a0England\u2019s latest data showed\u00a0250,000 Londoners played at least once last year. That\u2019s around 20% of the adult playing population in England and Wales. Walk from Lord\u2019s into the playing fields in Regent\u2019s Park and you will find five, six, seven games going on all at once on the public pitches. Over the road at Fab\u2019s Food & Wine they always have the Indian Premier League on in the afternoons, streaming on a mobile phone. The\u00a0guy who runs it tells me he is a Royal Challengers Bengaluru fan; I ask if he knows which county plays at the ground around the corner. \u201cNo idea.\u201d<\/p>\n Middlesex CCC has a catchment area that stretches over 17 London boroughs, and includes one of the largest, most diverse, and enthusiastic cricket communities in the country. Last year they pulled in a grand total of 44,415 paying spectators for the County Championship<\/a>. Now that the MCC is running its own professional team, the London Spirit, Middlesex aren\u2019t even the most famous team playing in their own ground.<\/p>\n Time was, and not so long ago, when they were one of the greatest clubs in the game, and would have fancied themselves a match for anyone, anywhere. In the golden years, under the leadership of Mike\u00a0Brearley and Mike Gatting, they won the County Championship seven times in 18 seasons. The last of their 13 titles<\/a> was won a decade ago, in 2016, when they went unbeaten through the season. Only two of the team playing Durham this weekend were a part of that one, too, Sam Robson and Toby Roland-Jones.<\/p>\n \u201cJeez,\u201d says Robson, \u201c10 years goes by so fast, hey? It doesn\u2019t feel that long ago. But yeah, there are other times when you reflect because it has been mentioned lately that it\u2019s 10 years since and you realise, you know, Jeez, a lot has changed.\u201d The players are phlegmatic. \u201cThere have been so many little dramas that the playing group have just sort of got used to it,\u201d Robson says, \u201cand have grown pretty resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n Middlesex were relegated the next season<\/a>. They\u2019ve spent seven of the eight seasons since in the second division, they bounced up and down again in 2022 and 2023. Their T20 side has won nine games out of 42 in the last three years. South of the Thames, Surrey have never been stronger. They are the richest, and most successful, team in the country, pulling in total crowds above 80,000 just for their championship matches. North of it, there\u2019s a sense that Middlesex are, as Gatting, Mark Ramprakash, Mike Selvey and a group of former players recently wrote in an open letter to the membership<\/a>, \u201cdrifting towards irrelevance\u201d.<\/p>\n