FOR all his impish banter in the pavilion at Lord's, it's hard to imagine that David Nash might pass out at any moment. In this, his 12th and beneficiary year at Middlesex, the stalwart wicketkeeper and self-appointed club jester has

By Jonny Weeks

FOR all his impish banter in the pavilion at Lord's, it's hard to imagine that David Nash might pass out at any moment.

In this, his 12th and beneficiary year at Middlesex, the stalwart wicketkeeper and self-appointed club jester has literally been floored by a mystery illness on three separate occasions in the past two months.

The most recent "attack" happened at Lord's before last week's Friends Provident Trophy defeat to Sussex.

In his own words: "One minute I was chatting to the dressing room attendant ordering my sandwiches, then I just conked out and hit the deck."

Consequently, Nash was rested from duty for last week's County Championship draw with Essex and is unlikely to be considered for the upcoming Twenty20 tournament.

But is he worried? Of course not.

"I feel completely fine. It's just a bit weird, isn't it?", he exclusively told Wood&Vale Sport.

"I had one attack at the academy, one here and one at home. I felt a bit hot before the last one, but that was it.

"They sent me to the hospital and I had an ECG and a heart test just to check that everything's all right.

"From what the doctor says he reckons everything will be all right. I've just got to take it a bit easy.

"Until the test results come back they don't know what's causing it. Let's just hope it's something like low blood sugar."

The 29-year-old speculates that exhaustion may be a contributing factor. Nash has a 15-month-old daughter, two step-daughters and, being the Middlesex beneficiary player this year, the added responsibility of organising all manner of events throughout the course of the season.

"It's a bit manic at the moment," he says."It's a lot of extra work having a benefit year.

"Basically, you're an events company for a year and for someone like me who's never run an event before, it's bloody hard.

"You have to do everything down to the finest details - even the placemats.

"I'm arranging things like auction days, dinners, golf days and poker nights. At the end of the day, it's all for me and my charity [Shooting Stars Hospice - to which Nash will donate 10 per cent of his profits].

"You don't make great money as a County Championship cricketer, so you've got one chance where you've got to try to secure your financial future."

Yet, irrespective of his mental fatigue or the pending medical results, Nash knows he is unlikely to play in the forthcoming Twenty20 campaign for which Middlesex have drawn four top-division sides - Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Hampshire. His wicketkeeping rival Ben Scott typically gets the nod for the abbreviated form of the game.

"I've never played Twenty20 before and I'd like to play, but I don't expect to," says Nash. "Scotty's a legend. We're really good mates and because of that it's a little hard to be rivals.

"He's different to me. He's excellent standing up to the seamers, but when standing back he's not so consistent. But he's young and he's got all the talent, so he just needs to find a game-plan with the bat."

Of Middlesex's chances in the competition, he admitted: "We don't have any massively blasting-type batsmen. We've only really got Owais Shah and Jamie Dalrymple. But I think we've got decent enough bowlers to get the ball in the right areas."

Nash, meanwhile, is turning his sights ahead to the resumption of the County Championship at Derby in July. Middlesex currently lie fourth in division two after three wins and four draws from seven games but crucially have a game in hand.

"As a club we're definitely going in the right direction, even though we're out of the Friends Provident Trophy," said Nash.

"We need to kick on and reach the finals of one competition, and we need to get promotion in the County Championship because at the end of the day that's proper cricket.

"The one-day stuff is good for the crowd, but for me, four-day cricket is the focus because it's more a matter of character and I enjoy the ups and downs."

jonny.weeks@hamhigh.co.uk