Ian Bell was delighted with the team performance that saw Warwickshire secure their Specsavers County Championship Division One status by hammering Lancashire by 237 runs at Edgbaston.
The Bears bowled the Red Rose out for 109 on the final day to ensure they will be in contention to challenge for the championship title in 2017.
And such a challenge is what Bears captain Bell has in mind for his team next year after a 2016 campaign which brought glory in the Royal London Cup, but too much inconsistency in four-day cricket.
“It was a brilliant performance against Lancashire and to do that when you really need to do it is great,” Bell said. “In terms of fight, and the way we went about our cricket, from one to 11, it was the best we have played this season. It was a massive team performance.
“But it is also frustrating, in a way, because it shows what our potential is. To escape relegation is great but we have been involved at the wrong end of the table.”
The captain and coaching staff will waste no time before getting to work towards ensuring that, this time next year, the Bears are competing to finish in the top two rather than scrapping to avoid dropping into the bottom two.
“Next week we will be sitting down with all the players and going through things honestly and in detail,” Bell said. “We have got to put a line under this season and move on but the important thing is that we learn from this year and work really hard this winter.
“We have got some really good cricketers who have been around a long time but we all need to improve – and I count myself very much among that. I have got to work on a lot of things this winter.
“If we all do that, then we can win trophies, we have proved that this year. If we put everything together and show the right attitude then we can beat any team. The frustrating thing this season is that we haven’t done it enough.
“This last game was our first championship win of the season at Edgbaston. That doesn’t help. It’s important that in your home games you not only don’t lose but you win some games as well.
“As a batting unit we have not put the scores on the board that win you games. We have the best spinner in the country in Jeetan Patel and he’s been brilliant for us again and has been the best player in the country without even having had big scores to bowl at.
“The fact that I haven’t won a championship toss all season hasn’t helped. It has meant that, playing on a lot of drier wickets, we have had to bat last a number of times. But there’s no concealing that, as a batting unit, one to nine, we haven’t scored the volume of runs we want and that is something we will be working very hard to address during the winter.”
