Warwickshire 375/8 v Nottinghamshire.
Warwickshire all-rounders Ed Barnard and Chris Woakes combined to deny Nottinghamshire’s attempt to take early charge on day one of their Rothesay County Championship clash at Trent Bridge.
England pace bowler Josh Tongue has five for 91 but Barnard ended the day 134 not out after he and former England stalwart Woakes (64) had shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 116.
They enabled Warwickshire to fight back from 179 for six to close on 375 for eight against the defending champions.
It is Tongue’s fourth five-wicket haul in only eight first-class appearances for Nottinghamshire. The visitors looked in a perilous position at 97 for four just after lunch, but thanks to Barnard’s resolve and enterprise, Warwickshire can feel well pleased with their day’s work, especially having been asked to bat first.
Tongue’s two morning wickets had swung the opening session in Nottinghamshire’s favour. After losing Alex Davies, caught at backward point off a leading edge as Brett Hutton struck in the third over of the morning, Dan Mousley’s profitable counter-attack quickly seized the initiative as he and Rob Yates added 62 in rapid time before Tongue removed both in consecutive overs.
Used sparingly and in short bursts in his season-opener against Glamorgan here two weeks ago, Tongue was allowed off the leash for longer this time and it paid off in the sixth and seventh overs of an eight-over first spell.
Yates, who had done well to survive a rapid yorker from Tongue’s first ball, had no answer to a delivery that climbed and took the edge to give first slip an easy catch. Mousley picked up nine boundaries in a run-a-ball 49, yet like Davies was caught off a leading edge, this time at extra cover.
Warwickshire, one of the counties considered potential title contenders this year, suffered another blow two balls after lunch as Tom Hain, no stranger to big scores on this ground, was pinned leg before by Lyndon James, leaving Warwickshire four down for 97.
James, a last-day injury substitute for Fergus O’Neill against Glamorgan, had kept his place, the Australian yet to recover from a rib injury.
As Nottinghamshire continued to set attacking fields, Barnard and Beau Webster countered aggressively, Barnard pulling James for six before he and the Australian batter took turns to find the boundary.
Webster became a third victim for Tongue at the start of the England man’s second spell, chopping a loose drive into his stumps. Barnard completed his first half-century of the season but lost another partner as Hutton induced another leading edge to see off Zen Malik, caught at point.
By tea, though, the picture was beginning to look more balanced as the pooled experience of Barnard and Woakes brought some order to Warwickshire’s progress, the pair adding 65 in the 18 overs that remained of a long session, in which ultimately the visitors added 148 for the loss of three wickets.
With 15 fours and a six in an innings that had been carefully judged, Barnard completed his first century of the season off 121 balls, Woakes passing fifty for the second time this season following his international retirement. Woakes missed last week’s win over Essex but has returned this week with fellow veteran Keith Barker rested.
Woakes, now 37, last made a first-class hundred for Warwickshire 10 years ago – on this ground – but any thoughts of getting close to three figures again here were dashed when Tongue, in his third spell of the day, induced an error that saw him bowled off a bottom edge.
Tongue, now with new ball in hand, claimed Jordan Thompson as his fifth wicket via a sharp catch at second slip, pouched by England colleague Ben Duckett.
Warwickshire’s Chris Woakes said:
“From 97 for four, that definitely is a good score, a good day for the lads, led by a brilliant knock from Ed Barnard, coming in against a Nottinghamshire attack that was up and at it, with a few wickets under their belts, Tonguey bowling quickly. Ed is a proper player, which he showed today.
“We know how much of a quality player he is, but I think, deep down as a player, when you do take over the captaincy, as he has, it’s nice to just get that one over the line and have that first contribution.
“Tongue bowled quickly. His first couple of spells in particular, (2:02) it looked like he bowled with really good pace, good control as well, because that’s something which I think he’s got better and better at. I think when he first came into the team, people probably thought he was definitely a wicket-taking bowler but could be a bit more consistent.
“It felt like today he was certainly that. He looked the most threatening out of their attack and looked like an England bowler.
“I feel in pretty good shape myself. I’m not going to play every game but we’ve got a good solid group of bowlers at Warwickshire so we can rotate. The England chapter of my career has been closed now but I wanted to come back and contribute for Warwickshire, and the motivation is there because I think we can win things. There are some serious teams in Division One but we would consider ourselves up there with them.”