Crusaders will be ready - Radford

Middlesex will give themselves the best possible chance of glory in the Twenty20 Champions League, when the competition is rearranged, according to first team coach Toby Radford.

The Crusaders were due to fly to Mumbai on Thursday in preparation for the tournament but the terrorist attacks there forced them to delay their flight.

On their arrival they had been due to stay in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel which was one of those besieged by the terrorists.

Champions League chairman Lalit Modi subsequently announced the postponement of the inaugural competition which he insists will be played in India at a later date.

Whenever that is, Radford is determined for his squad to travel there early to acclimatise to the conditions in India.

The 36-year-old former Middlesex batsman told ecb.co.uk: “If we're going to give ourselves the best chance we just need a bit of extra time in the climate, on the pitches and just to get back into cricket mode really.”

Middlesex captain Shaun Udal, chief executive Vinny Codrington and first team coach Toby Radford have overseen the club's preparation

In the meantime Middlesex players will continue to train in indoor facilities although Radford added: “It's not quite the same as being in 80 or 90 degree heat and all the other things that go with that really.”

The postponement of the Champions League further disjoints Middlesex's winter plans following their Twenty20 Cup triumph over Kent at the Rose Bowl in July.

That saw them qualify for the inaugural Stanford Super Series, in late October, and the Champions League which was due to run from December 3-10 in Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

They are now in limbo until new dates are confirmed, raising question marks over the availability of several of their players.

Batsman Ed Joyce is due to join Sussex in the new year, Andrew Strauss and Owais Shah could have England commitments, while Tyron Henderson and Murali Kartik could be required by their club sides in South Africa and India respectively.

“It's not ideal. We're not right in the middle of a season obviously and the Antigua trip for Stanford we had a couple of weeks where people were down, not in peak form,” said Radford.

“We're just trying to get everyone up to that (the Champions League) now. A lot of the guys have been training hard at Finchley and in the indoor school (at Lord’s) the last couple of weeks.

“A couple of others have gone away with England Lions - (Dawid) Malan and (Eoin) Morgan - and obviously Shah and Strauss are away as well and Hendo and Kartik are away, so half the side is actually abroad and the other have been in training at Finchley.”

Middlesex hope star batsman Owais Shah, playing here for England against the Crusaders in Antigua, will be available for them in the Champions League

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Whenever the competition is played, fitness permitting, captain Shaun Udal should be available to lead the side.

The wily off-spinner took over from Joyce in September and led Middlesex in Antigua last month, albeit to three defeats out of three.

However, Radford believes his skipper did a fine job which he could replicate in the Champions League.

“I think he fared well. I think it was difficult for us. I mean we certainly didn't have the preparation out there that we wanted.”

“Antigua being hit by a hurricane just before we got there, it was very hard to get out on any outfields.

“The nets were really up and down because of the rain they'd had and the (cancellation of the) two practice matches we were due to have against Antigua really made it difficult.

“I think looking at the results it was disappointing because we lost the three games we played out there but it was no fault of Shaun's.

“And actually if you look at the games I thought we played really well against England. We were only a few runs short and if we'd held our catches under the lights against Trinidad we would have won the big money game.

“You'd then be talking about winning two out of three and we don't look at it with doom and gloom we just realise that sometimes one or two little things mean the difference between winning and losing in a Twenty20 game.”