Olly Stone has agreed to a loan deal with Middlesex. Stone is using the transfer as a last-ditch attempt to get into England’s 2025–2026 Ashes plans. Stone has so far represented England in 16 international matches, including five Test matches. In 2024, he traveled with them to New Zealand and Pakistan.
The right-arm quick’s career has been marred by injuries, though, and in April he had knee surgery, which prevented him from playing in the home Test summer. Stone, whose central contract expires at the end of the season, has participated in six games since his recovery: two for London Spirit in The Hundred and four for Nottinghamshire in the T20 Blast.
Stone has agreed to a temporary loan to Middlesex at least temporarily for a few rounds of the County Championship. He will have his debut against Derbyshire on Monday, September 8, with Middlesex.
The head coach of Nottinghamshire, Peter Moores was delighted with the news and said that Stone will enjoy his time at Middlesex in the long-run, citing the 2025-2026 Ashes. Also, he commended the performances of Stone in the limited-overs format.
“This is a great opportunity for Olly to get some competitive overs under his belt with the red ball for the first time since the back end of last summer. A fit and firing Olly Stone is an asset for any side, and we’re sure he’ll be well served by this short spell at Middlesex,” Moores was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
We’re fortunate to have a number of seam bowlers to choose from for our next couple of games, and we want to make sure Olly has the best possible chance to get some miles back in the legs after some impressive spells in white-ball cricket so far this summer,” he added.
Alan Coleman, Middlesex’s director of cricket, said:
“As we reach the end of the season, the rigours of the season inevitably take their toll on the fast-bowling unit, so to be able to bring someone in of Olly’s proven international quality to freshen things up ahead of the County Championship run-in is a huge bonus for us.
He will add not only quality, but vast amounts of experience too at the highest level, which the younger players in our group can really benefit from as we look to finish the season strong. We are really looking forward to welcoming Olly to the club and are excited to see what he will bring over the next fortnight.”
Stone has 174 wickets in 54 matches (89 innings) with an averaging of 27.16 and economy rate of 3.44 in his First-Class career. His last competitive match was in August ever this year.
