Rushworth: ‘This is one of the best attacks I’ve played in’

‘I’m one of those guys where the more I bowl, the better I get’. That should be music to Bears fans' ears.

A serial wicket-taker as Durham’s most prolific bowler in First Class cricket, Rushworth headed south to Edgbaston after 18 years with his home county.

With 603 First Class wickets and 821 scalps across all formats before arriving, it should therefore come as no surprise to see the 36-year-old continue his incredible career.

Four innings in and the right-armer has nine poles on the back of a skill to bowl a relentless line and length. What’s more impressive is that he’s doing it in a role that’s slightly different from his days up north.

“I’m used to bowling big workloads with lots of overs, but that might change slightly while I’m here,” said Rushworth. “Before a ball was bowled on day one I was looking around as we waited to toss the coin and I was like ‘This is one of the best attacks I’ve played in’.

“I’ve been in some good attacks back at Durham, but this is exciting. Five proper bowlers. We talk as a group about 5-fers, but how do you chalk them off when you’ve got five front-line seamers? You’ve got to get in there quickly before the other bloke does and I’ve loved it so far.

“I’m not going to shy around my age and I’ll always hunt for wickets and bowl the hard yards. But if the unit is contributing to wins and bowling sides out then to me it doesn’t matter who takes the wickets. It’s all about getting the job done.”

Warwickshire has certainly got the job done so far heading into this week’s clash against last season’s champions Surrey.

The better team in their first two fixtures, the unbeaten Bears sit in third, just ten points off top-placed Hampshire who have played a game more.

“I’m absolutely over the moon with how we’ve started,” Rushworth added. “If you look at how we played at Somerset and then against Kent we’ve played all the better cricket. It’s the result we deserved and to go as late as it did mean it was a little more exciting.

“It’s so easy to talk about this stuff in winter, but going out and doing it is a completely different challenge. Throughout those first two games, we’ve backed up everything we’ve talked about. How we go into the games, how we approach certain things, and plans, so it’s rewarding to get that first win and credit to everyone involved. The batters showed great skill level to get 450 and then to bowl them out twice in a day and a bit is tremendous.”