Middlesex batter Max Holden highlighted learning from international stars as key to his hopes of breaking into the England squad ahead of the Ashes.
Holden started the 2025 County Championship with gusto, scoring 69 and 184 in helping Middlesex overturn a first-innings deficit to draw with Lancashire in the Division Two curtain-raiser at Lord’s last weekend.
This built on a strong 2024, where he scored 981 first-class runs for his county, followed by an explosive stint in the ILT20 in the UAE with Desert Vipers, where he learned from team-mates with international experience, including compatriot Sam Curran.
Holden said: “There’s definitely a lot about picking the brains of a lot of your team-mates, or just watching how the top players go about it.
“That’s one thing franchise cricket really helps with – getting exposure to that sort of calibre of players.
“Playing those sort of high pressure games, you learn from getting through them.”
The 27-year-old will get the chance to add to those experiences at Middlesex this year, with former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson contracted to play at least five County Championship matches.
Also in the mix for the county are international Test players Dane Paterson (South Africa) and Zafar Gohar (Pakistan), the latter of whom took seven wickets against Lancashire.
The County Cricket Podcast host Aaron Viles believes Holden has the credentials to break into the England set-up, but could see his opportunities limited by the magnitude of the national team’s next two Test series.
Brendon McCullum’s side host India this summer before a hotly-anticipated trip down under to face old rivals Australia in the 2025/26 Ashes.
Viles said: “I’ve always said it, [Holden is] class with a capital C.
“He’s got a lovely, fluent, almost poetic style of batting and when he’s on song, he is brilliant to watch.
“If you look at England’s middle order now, it’s so, so competitive with the emergence of Harry, Brook, Jamie Smith, Jordan Cox at Essex.
“It is going to be difficult to achieve international honors, but I think this represents a huge season for him.”
However, Holden, who bats at three for Middlesex, could challenge incumbent batter Ollie Pope for that position, given how the England vice-captain has struggled for form of late.
Pope averaged just 33 in 2024 and was dismissed for a duck three times, more than in his entire career beforehand.
Viles backs McCullum and Ben Stokes to be patient with Pope, but agrees that if Holden continues to perform like he did against Lancashire, he will ramp up the pressure.
He said: “That’s the great thing about domestic cricket – you constantly get the opportunity to put yourself in that metaphorical shop window.
“[Pope] has got a history of scoring big and Max Holden hasn’t done that in international cricket because he hasn’t had the opportunity.
“It would be very, very bold to almost feed him to the metaphorical lions in Australia, because that Aussie bowling attack is scary, isn’t it?”
On the domestic front, Middlesex hope their winter recruitment will lead them to promotion to Division One after missing out on the final day last season.
Despite rumours that the club are in talks to move away from the Lord’s, Middlesex have committed to playing more matches there, including creating a bowling strip at their training ground to mimic the ground’s infamous slope.
First-team coach Richard Johnson said: “We try and get our young bowlers out in the middle of Lord’s when they come through an academy so they get an experience of the slope
“Our batters don’t get that opportunity, so actually to have our younger batters or new signings, being able to play on a slope at a ground that mimics the Lord’s slope is a great bonus for us.”
Johnson believes Middlesex have the capabilities to fight for success across both red and white-ball cricket this season.
That is despite only reaching the semi-finals of the T20 Blast once in 22 years, when they won it in 2008.
Johnson said: “We want to progress in both.
“We still want to be a great red-ball side – we want to desperately be in that first division and pushing to win that, but we have to be better in T20 cricket.
“It’s something we’ve talked about as a club for a while now and we’re progressing in the right way with the Blast.
“We are adding good players to that core young group that we’ve developed over the last three years.”
However, Viles believes that while Middlesex are one of the favourites to gain promotion, they will struggle to be competitive in the T20 Blast.
He said: “Statistically, in the last decade, they’ve been, I think, one of the worst [T20] teams in world cricket, which is just staggering to think, when you consider the amount of big names they’ve had.
“You look at teams like Essex, Hampshire – Gloucestershire are rising through the ranks as well.
“And of course, you’ve got the juggernaut of Surrey, who always dominate in the south group.
“I think it will be very, very difficult, even though they’ve got some great options.
“I think for me, the focus this year for Middlesex should be the Championship – get promoted and then build off that, heading into the future.”
Featured Image: Andy Price via Flickr
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