Warwickshire County Cricket Club Head Coach Ian Westwood spoke of his delight at seeing his side hit the summit of the Rothesay County Championship table, after continuing their good start to the new campaign with a battling draw at Trent Bridge against Nottinghamshire.
The Bears were on the front foot for most of their contest against reigning champions Nottinghamshire, taking a strong points haul to jump above Somerset in the table having played a game more through the early stage of the season.
Westwood, who saw his team pick up a first victory of the season in impressive fashion last week against Essex, praised his side’s work ethic across the opening four games.
“It’s nice to look at the table and see that we’re top,” he said. “We’ve obviously played a game more than some teams, but I think across the four weeks as a whole, we’ve had some tough fixtures against some really good teams.
“We’ve played some good cricket and we’ve been in a position to win all of those games which shows we’re doing a lot right.
“I’m really pleased with the way the group is tracking and the effort everyone is putting in and we’re getting better all the time.”
The Bears were reduced to 179 for six on day one in Nottingham, before Club Captain Ed Barnard (165) and former England stalwart Chris Woakes (64) produce a timely 117 run partnership, and Michael Booth added 70 to see the visitors eventually bowled out for 459.
Warwickshire then impressed with the ball, dismissing the hosts for 279, with Booth (4-71) and Woakes (3-44) the pick of the bowlers, before Warwickshire enforced the follow on.
On a pitch that continued to get better for batting, Warwickshire threw everything at the hosts who racked up 537-7 before declaring, a decision that saw both captains shake hands late on day four.
Despite being unable to force a win, Westwood says his side did a lot right at the home of the champions.
“Coming to the home of the champions, losing the toss and being put in, I think we can be happy with our week’s work,” he added.
“There is some disappointment that we couldn’t push for a win, but we tried everything we could. We were brave to make them follow on. We felt that gave us the best chance in terms of time left in the game to bowl them out.
“I thought Barny’s knock showed his class. We also pride ourselves on contributing with the bat lower down the order and we had contributions at eight from Woakesy, Thomo (Jordan Thompson) got a few and Boothy (Michael Booth) is improving all the time with the bat, which got us maximum batting points which was a great effort.
“We knew it was going to be tough but we put in loads of effort, played some good cricket and we go away fairly happy.”
Warwickshire return to Rothesay County Championship action next week, as Yorkshire visit Edgbaston from 8-11 May.