LEWIS Gregory returns to the Somerset squad for the visit of Middlesex tomorrow, as the hosts look to put two successive defeats in the Royal London One-Day Cup behind them.

It is Middlesex's first match at the Cooper Associates County Ground since the denouement of last season, which saw the visitors relegated from Division 1 of the County Championship amid complaints about Somerset's "dreadful" pitch.

Team news

Contract negotiations may be ongoing, but Lewis Gregory returns to the Somerset squad to face Middlesex.

The injured trio of Tom Abell (finger), Josh Davey (quad) and Jack Leach (thumb) remain sidelined, while Dom Bess is still away with England.

Head coach Jason Kerr has named the following 14-man squad:

Tom Banton, Steve Davies, Ben Green, Lewis Gregory, Tim Groenewald, James Hildreth, Johann Myburgh, Craig Overton, Jamie Overton, Matt Renshaw, Peter Trego, Roelof van der Merwe, Paul van Meekeren, Max Waller.

As for visitors Middlesex, they have named an unchanged 15-strong squad from their win over Sussex:

Tom Barber, Hilton Cartwright, Stephen Eskinazi, Steven Finn, James Franklin, James Fuller, Nick Gubbins, James Harris, Tom Helm, Max Holden, Eoin Morgan, Ravi Patel, John Simpson, Nathan Sowter, Paul Stirling.

Team form

Having got off to an unbeaten start in the County Championship, and won convincingly against Surrey and Glamorgan in the 50-over competition, Somerset have had some of the wind taken out of their sails by successive defeats to Sussex and Essex this week.

They will be looking for James Hildreth to improve on his 24 against Essex, given that he is currently the highest run scorer in the competition with 305 runs, at an average of 101.66.

Peter Trego has captained the side in the last two matches, after Abell injured his finger, and the Somerset stalwart is keen to bounce back.

After the Essex match he said: "The most disappointing is probably the fielding and the running between the wickets from the team - that is probably where the game was won and lost.

"[Varun] Chopra and [Ravi] Bopara’s innings were fantastic; they put a great partnership on and ran us ragged a bit.

"That was pretty much the 50 runs in the game - their running between the wickets and our occasional sloppy fielding.

"We have to dust ourselves off, learn the lesson and come back on Sunday and put it right."

Middlesex, by contrast, have won their last three 50-over matches, beating Kent, Glamorgan and Sussex.

That form has taken them up to second in the South Group standings on six points, with Somerset fourth with four points.

Last meeting

The two sides were due to meet at Lord's in last summer's competition, but rain intervened and saw the match abandoned without a ball being bowled.

The 50-over match between the teams in July 2016, in Taunton, was won by the home side, as Trego hit 104 to guide his side to 297-6 and a four-wicket victory.

Outside of the One-Day Cup, we only need to go back as far as September 28, 2017, for the side's fateful last meeting.

Hildreth hit a century and Leach took second-innings figures of 5-57 as Somerset won by 231 runs, their comprehensive victory keeping them in Division 1 and relegating Middlesex.

Somerset's pitch was marked as 'below average' and Middlesex's director of cricket Angus Fraser called the hosts "disgraceful", but no points deduction followed, as it was Somerset's first offence.

Middlesex appealed, unsuccessfully as it turned out, but only after Somerset's then chief executive Lee Cooper threatened legal action against the ECB should the decision be overturned. 

So you could say that both sides have a little bit of extra motivation to win tomorrow...

Somerset v Middlesex is due to get underway at 11am (gates open at 10am at the County Ground).