Fri 18 August, 11:00
Report: Warwickshire v Northamptonshire, Metro Bank One Day Cup
Warwickshire secured their place in the Metro Bank One Day Cup knockout stage with a 24-run win over Northamptonshire in a ten-over bash at Edgbaston.
The endeavours of the Edgbaston ground staff and the patience of the impressively large number of home fans who stayed through the rain was rewarded with a 5pm start and a sixth straight win for the Bears.
Warwickshire totalled 104 for three as Ed Barnard belted 32 (14 balls) while skilful work from Simon Kerrigan (2-0-14-2) kept a brake on the run-rate.
Northamptonshire never recovered from a stodgy start, hitting just two fours in the first three overs, and finished well short on 80 for six (Will Rhodes three for 22, Olly Hannon-Dalby two for 10).
Put in, Warwickshire were abrasively launched by a stand of 40 in 20 balls by openers Barnard and Rob Yates. The latter sent one ball out of the stadium over the very short Pershore Road-side boundary but then perished when he chipped Jack White to mid on.
Warwickshire charged to 50 in four overs against the seamers but found the spin of Kerrigan harder to attack. The slow left-armer’s first ball dismissed Jake Bethell, who lifted a reverse-sweep, and his fourth lured Barnard out of his ground to be stumped by skipper Lewis McManus.
Rhodes (23, 15 balls) and Michael Burgess (26, 19) flailed away to add 51 in 33 balls to ensure a demanding target.
Northamptonshire’s reply began slowly as Hannon-Dalby and Craig Miles each delivered an over for just five runs. Ricardo Vasconcelos lifted a Henry Brookes full toss to deep mid-wicket and the visitors’ decision to bat second came back to bite them as gloom descended.
The innings’ first six, hoisted over the off-side by Rob Keogh off Rhodes, at last came from the 33rd ball, but Keogh lifted the 34th only to extra cover.
Tom Taylor, in prime form, launched his first ball for six and, while he was there, Northants still had a sniff, but Emilio Gay hoovered up 15 balls for his eight runs, Taylor skied Hannon-Dalby to extra cover, and the challenge of finding 47 from the last three overs proved far too much.
Mark Robinson said: “Gary (Barwell) and his ground staff team did a fantastic job to get us a game on. We really wanted to play because we knew if we won today we were through and that’s always been the goal.
“It was a clinical bowling performance from the guys. Execution-wise, it was outstanding, as good as it gets. To be fair, Northamptonshire bowled well too, but we had a strong start to our innings and then a couple of batters at the end, Burgy and Rhodesy, who scored valuable runs and were a bit frustrated that they didn’t get more.
“But with a huge boundary on one side and a very short boundary on the other it wasn’t that easy. It was very pleasing that in the end we won quite comfortably to fulfil our objective of getting through to the knockout stage.”
Additional tickets released for first three days of West Indies Test
A small number of tickets have been released for the first three days of our Men’s Test against West Indies this summer (26-30 Juy).
Tickets are limited for these day and are expected to sell quickly. Early Bird tickets for Day Four are still available if purchased before midnight on 31 March.
