Voges ruled out of Middlesex return

Middlesex will be without their County Championship captain Adam Voges for the remainder of the season, as they aim to secure a first title since 1993, after he picked up a hamstring injury during Australia's tour of Sri Lanka.

Although Voges was able to play all three Tests, Cricket Australia have ruled he needs to remain in Perth for his recovery ahead of the Australian season. George Bailey has also played for Middlesex this season but he is currently with Australia's one-day side in Sri Lanka.

James Franklin, who has captained in Voges' absence, will continue to lead the side. The county will assess if there is the option of bringing in a replacement overseas player for the final month of the Championship where Middlesex currently sit top, 26 points ahead of defending champions Yorkshire who have a game in hand. Voges made 388 runs at 77.60 in his six Championship appearances.

"We are naturally disappointed that Adam cannot return. He is a fine player and a highly respected member of our squad. His presence will be missed," Angus Fraser, Middlesex's managing director of cricket said.

"We have begun the process of seeing what other options may be available to us. As always seems the case, there is currently a lot of international cricket being or about to be played and international teams are understandably protective about their best players.

"In Adam's absence we have a fine captain in James Franklin. James has done a brilliant job for Middlesex so far this summer and he will now continue to captain the club for the remainder of the season.

"Within our squad we also have plenty of strength in depth, as we showed during the County Championship win against Durham, which was achieved without an overseas player."

Voges absence will be partly alleviated by the recent return of Nick Compton following the self-imposed break he took after the Sri Lanka Test series. Compton scored 131 in his second match back against Durham. They are also able to call on a solid top order which includes Nick Gubbins, who is on 999 County Championship runs, and Sam Robson with an average of 59.91 this season.

There remains a chance that they will be without Dawid Malan for the Championship match against Nottinghamshire next month as that coincides with England's T20 against Pakistan. Malan was in the T20 squad against Sri Lanka earlier this season although did not play at the Ageas Bowl.

Middlesex, though, are not severely impacted by England calls. Eoin Morgan is unavailable due to the one-day series against Pakistan but he has not played a four-day game this season. Steven Finn is currently out with a hamstring injury although is hopeful of being fit towards the end of Championship run-in.