Birmingham Bears will open their 2019 Vitality Blast campaign away to local rivals, and reigning tournament champions, Worcestershire Rapids on Friday 19 July at Blackfinch New Road.
Playing in-front of a big crowd is at Edgbaston is a very special thing to experience as a Bear.
Jim Troughton
The Bears will play all games during the 2019 season within the school summer holidays and six of the seven home games at Edgbaston are scheduled on either Friday evenings or Sunday afternoons.
Following the match for the Norman Gifford Trophy at Blackfinch New Road, the Bears return to Edgbaston for back-to-back home games against Leicestershire Foxes on Sunday 21 July and Derbyshire Falcons on Tuesday 23 July.
With Edgbaston hosting England’s first Test of the Specsavers Ashes Series against Australia, the Bears will play away games versus Northants Steelbacks, Notts Outlaws, Yorkshire Vikings and Leicestershire Foxes before returning to Birmingham to take on the Outlaws on Friday 9 August.
The Bears take on the Rapids at Edgbaston in the return match for the Norman Gifford Trophy on Friday 23 August, Bank Holiday weekend, and wrap up the group stages of the competition against Yorkshire Vikings a week later on Friday 30 August.
Jim Troughton, Birmingham Bears 1st Team Coach, said: “The local derbies against Worcestershire Rapids are always ones we look forward to when the fixtures come out, and they’re great occasions that the fans love.
“Given their recent record against us and coming into 2019 as defending champions, as Bears we’re determined to get off to the perfect start by defeating our local rivals and taking the Norman Gifford Trophy back to Edgbaston.
“We’ve seen our attendances grow considerably in recent years and it great to see that so many games in 2019 are scheduled on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, which makes it so much easier for supporters to attend.
“Playing in-front of a big crowd is at Edgbaston is a very special thing to experience as a Bear and hopefully our fans can roar us on to a memorable Vitality Blast campaign in 2019.”
