Fri 26 - Mon 29 Apr, 11:00
Report: Warwickshire v Nottinghamshire, County Championship
Day Two
Dan Mousley and Ed Barnard batted brilliantly against high-class seam bowling and tricky conditions to halt a Day Two charge by Nottinghamshire.
The Bears pair came together on 26/3 but stood strong in the face of off an onslaught of pace and lateral movement from the visiting attack.
They put on 46 before bad light forced an early end to play with Warwickshire on 71/3.
Ben Duckett’s chanceless 218 (264 balls, 25 fours, one six) earlier lifted Nottinghamshire to 400 all out against an attack skilfully led by Olly Hannon-Dalby who claimed his 11th First Class five-fer for Warwickshire
Nottinghamshire resumed on the second morning on 367 for eight with Duckett two runs short of the fifth double century of his career.
He soon moved to 199 and then turned down numerous chances to acquire his 200th run as he farmed the strike before eventually reaching the milestone from 240 balls.
The England batter received intelligent support from Dillon Pennington in a ninth-wicket stand of 44. Their alliance steered their side to 400 before Mousley bowled Duckett through an attempted carve over the off side. Pennington then pulled Hannon-Dalby to long leg in the next over.
Nottinghamshire’s seam attack inflicted heavy early damage on Warwickshire’s reply.
Alex Davies, Will Rhodes and Rob Yates are among the highest-scorers in the country this season but this time managed just 25 between them. Pennington had Davies superbly taken by Will Young at first slip and trapped Rhodes lbw. A perfect off-cutter from Dane Paterson took Yates’ edge through to wicketkeeper Joe Clarke.
That was 26 for three, at which point the follow on figure was far in the distance but in batting conditions about as tough as could be – moderate light, moisture in the cold air, high quality bowlers with their tails up – Barnard and Mousley avoided further damage.
Ed Barnard finished the day on 18 not out and Dan Mousley 26 not out as they dug in to start a recovery.
Warwickshire all-rounder Ed Barnard said: “Credit to Ben Duckett, he has played a fantastic knock and put them in a really strong position and then they came out and bowled really well in helpful conditions.
“It has been cloudy overhead and that can have a big effect on conditions and the lights were on the whole time we were batting so I think we did well to get through with only three down. When bowlers come in with 400 runs on the board they are going to be giddy and have lots of energy.
“Dan Mousley came in and batted brilliantly. He went out and played his normal game which is great to see. He is a positive player who always looks to put the bad ball away and put the pressure back on the bowlers so, as a batter, it is always good to see him coming out to join you. We have had a lot of very good batting conditions this season so to see him bat like that in tough conditions was really nice.”
Day One
Olly Hannon-Dalby took four wickets as Ben Duckett held Nottinghamshire’s batting together on the opening day of their Vitality Championship Division One match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.
England batter Duckett constructed an unbeaten 197 (230 balls) as his side made erratic but highly entertaining progress to 367 for eight.
It was a patchy display from Nottinghamshire as three batters – Duckett, Ben Slater (65, 108) and Jack Haynes (74, 120) – passed 60 but nobody else reached double figures against an attack led by the redoubtable Hannon-Dalby.
With Liam Norwell and Chris Rushworth still injured, Warwickshire gave a debut to seamer Aamer Jamal who joined fellow Pakistan international Hasan Ali in the seam team. Making his 200th appearance for Warwickshire, Hannon-Dalby, finished with 19-3-58-4 – superb figures on a good batting pitch.
The first two championship matches of the season at Edgbaston having yielded 2,496 runs, Nottinghamshire captain Haseeb Hameed did not hesitate to choose to bat, but he perished early and carelessly when he lifted Hannon-Dalby to cover in the seventh over. The Yorkshiremen should have had further immediate success when Slater edged to third slip before he had scored but Jake Bethell grassed a straightforward chance.
It proved a costly reprieve as Duckett and Slater added 146 in 32 overs. Slater batted with increasing fluency, 52 of his 65 runs coming in fours, before Hannon-Dalby returned to unfurl a lovely away-cutter that took the edge through to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess.
That triggered the loss of three wickets for 15 runs as cricket’s enduring ability to bring people down to earth with a jolt spectacularly showed itself. Last week, Will Young and Joe Clarke shared 397 runs in a record partnership against Somerset at Taunton. This time they managed just five between them after falling to the first and last balls of a Will Rhodes over, both sweet outswingers which were nicked to Burgess.
Duckett advanced to his 27th first class century from 126 balls and found a solid partner in Haynes. The former Worcestershire player struck 11 fours in an attractive knock before the new ball brought another cluster of wickets. Hannon-Dalby produced a nifty in-ducker which trapped Haynes lbw and then Hasan Ali had Lyndon James caught behind and bowled Calvin Harrison who offered no shot.
When Olly Stone, back in the team against his former team-mates in place of Brett Hutton (achilles injury) edged Hannon-Dalby to second slip, Nottinghamshire were eight wickets down and Duckett still needed nine for his double ton. The first four of those came from an audacious ramp over over the wicketkeeper’s head off Rhodes, but then bad light closed in to leave the England man poised on the threshold overnight.
Warwickshire bowler Olly Hannon-Dalby said: “It’s a good cricket wicket. There was a bit of nip with the new ball and it moved around a bit but once you got past 40 overs it became soft and hard work for the bowlers as you’d expect. There is something there for the bowlers. It’s the best pitch for bowling we have had this season after some pretty flat ones.
“Ben Duckett showed why he is an international cricketer. He batted really well and scored over half his team’s runs. It was a fluctuating day and the conditions changed a little bit with the weather. When it went overcast just after lunch the ball did a bit for us and then again later on we were glad to be bowling and took advantage with a few late wickets.
“I couldn’t believe it when I found out it was my 200th game for Warwickshire. I am pretty chuffed to have achieved that and it was nice to get a few wickets too.”
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