Fraser unhappy at early T20 exit

Fraser admits that Middlesex lost confidence in the Twenty20 Cup

Middlesex's director of cricket Angus Fraser has blamed a lack of preparation and injuries for the club's disjointed Twenty20 Cup campaign.

The Panthers suffered seven defeats in a row which ended their hopes of retaining the Twenty20 title.

Fraser told BBC London 94.9: "The IPL meant Tyrone Henderson arrived back a day before the tournament.

"Kartik missed the first two games, Shah and Morgan were out for a few and Tim Murtagh had a pulled hamstring."

Fraser admits that expectations were high of following up last year's Twenty20 trophy with another strong campaign but those hopes were ruined by early defeats.

He added: "We got off to a poor start. Certainly, Twenty20 is all about momentum and we got whacked two games in a row and the young players lost confidence.

"Before you knew it, you've got very little time in this game to take a step back and re-evaluate, you've lost five out of five and the tournament has slipped away from you.

"It ended up being quite a disjointed campaign not through any fault of our own.

"All of sudden you find yourselves fielding a side at the start of the tournament that's only got four or five of the players that played in last year's final," he added.

The former Middlesex and England bowler also highlighted the financial losses all clubs have suffered due to the scheduling of this year's tournament.

He said: "I think most of the clubs have suffered financially this year just because of the reduced attendances and I think that was largely due to timing of the first round of Twenty20 matches at the end of May.

"Obviously the volume of other cricket being played in London such as the World Twenty20, a Test match in London and a lot of other things for people to spend their hard earned money on has affected us."

Middlesex's woes not only cost them a place in the quarter finals of this year's Twenty20 competition but also denied them the chance to play in the top flight of the English Premier League which will be contested for the first time in 2010.

Fraser is still unsure of the effect this will have on the club in the short term but is clear about Middlesex's ultimate objective.

"I don't think anybody's aware yet of the financial ramifications of where we play in next year's tournament but obviously we want to get in the first division as soon as possible."

Middlesex finished bottom of the South Division in this year's Twenty20 Cup after only winning two games.