BERKSHIRE will meet Middlesex in a 50 overs per side game at Falkland Cricket Club on Wednesday, July 15.

The counties are closely linked with coach Tom Lambert involved in both camps and several Berkshire players also being regulars in the Middlesex 2nd XI, with big-hitting batsman Dan Lincoln having also played for the 1st XI in the Vitality Blast last year.

Middlesex, who will go on to play Hertfordshire at Radlett the following day, will be using the game to prepare for their Royal London Cup campaign, which starts away to Lancashire the following Sunday.

Matches between the minor counties – now branded as national counties – and professional clubs have been introduced as part of big changes ahead of the 2020 season.

They include only four championship fixtures, two less than before. The two home games will be against Dorset at Finchampstead on August 2-4 and Cheshire at Falkland on August 23-25.

And there will not be any long travelling to the away games, as they are against Wiltshire at Corsham on July 12-14 and Oxfordshire at Challow & Childrey on August 16-18.

Berkshire will warm-up for the new season by playing their annual match against Wiltshire for the Marlborough Cup, with Marlborough CC the venue on Easter Sunday, April 12.

A week later, there will be a friendly against Bedfordshire at North Maidenhead's Summerleaze ground.

The opening Twenty20 game will be away to Wales Minor Counties at Usk on April 26.

The T20 competition continues against Oxfordshire at North Maidenhead on May 3, Shropshire away on May 24 and Buckinghamshire at Wargrave on Bank Holiday Monday, May 25.

Berkshire will open their defence of the Trophy against Devon at Falkland on July 5.