Preview: Warwickshire v Somerset, LV= Insurance County Championship

Mark Robinson believes a “great opportunity” awaits Warwickshire’s players when they start their LV= Insurance County Championship game at home to Somerset knowing they could end it as champions.

A thrilling conclusion to the title race beckons and the Bears are in the thick of it. They sit in second place, 3.5 points behind Hampshire, 0.5 ahead of Lancashire and three in front of Nottinghamshire. Into the last round, the championship trophy could still end up at any of four locations – Southampton, Birmingham, Manchester or Nottingham.

With such a tight equation, bonus points will be vital and the balance of power is sure to shift by the hour after the games – Warwickshire v Somerset, Lancashire v Hampshire and Nottinghamshire v Yorkshire – start at 10.30am tomorrow.

For the Bears, for whom Chris Woakes is available, the incentive is to bring English cricket’s blue riband trophy to Edgbaston for only the eighth time in the club’s history. It could be a very special few days for the Bears fans, who have offered their team such great support this year, and the players for whom all the years of hard graft in training is dedicated to setting up weeks like this.

“It is a very exciting prospect for everyone connected to the Bears,” said first-team coach Robinson, “and I am really pleased that the players have this opportunity which they have earned by some excellent cricket this season.

“Chances to win trophies don’t come around too often in a player’s career. Sometimes you can be really lucky and have a little golden spell where you get to finals and win trophies, other players might hardly ever reach those heights, so for this group and the 11 that will play against Somerset, it’s a great opportunity.

Mark Robinson

“Each player will treat the occasion slightly differently as individuals, but when they get on the field it will be a case of doing the familiar things as well as possible. There will be extra scrutiny and media attention on the game but it’s all about doing the simple things right and doing the basics better than Somerset do.

“It’s great to have Woakesy available again. ECB have been brilliant around the availability of centrally contracted players and we’ve maintained excellent communication with England management over the course of the season.”

The Bears will aim to continue the momentum from last week’s brilliant win over Yorkshire at Headingley. To bounce back so impressively from the home defeat to Hampshire showed exactly the depths of resilience and resolve that Robinson has sought to imbue in his squad since arriving at the club last winter.

His first season has brought many positives, alongside areas where there is room for improvement. To crown it with the championship, or a top-two finish, would be a superb achievement.

“We have had a fair season,” Robinson said. “Now if we can carry it off in the last game and win a trophy or, at the very least are heading off to Lord’s for a place in the Bob Willis Trophy final, that’s the goal.

“We will try to win our match and hope that’s good enough to win the whole thing or, at the very least, takes us to Lord’s.”

Squad

Rhodes (c), Benjamin, Bethell, Bresnan, Briggs, Burgess (wk), Hain, Holder, Lamb, Miles, Norwell, Sibley, Woakes, Yates.

How to follow

Warwickshire Members and supporters will be able to follow all the action from Edgbaston via the Match Centre on edgbaston.com and through the Edgbaston app (available on iOS and Android).

Supporters can also keep up to date with the scores and in-play clips through the Match Centre on edgbaston.com.

Bears urged to show spirit of 1911 and 1995 in Championship finale

Frank Foster and Dermot Reeve are arguably Warwickshire’s two most inspiring and dynamic captains.

Almost a century apart they led the Bears into the final game of the season knowing that victory would secure the Championship title and at Northampton in 1911 and Canterbury in 1995, the Bears delivered.

In five of the seven years in which Warwickshire have won the county championship, they clinched it with at least one match to spare.

In 1951, powered by the brilliance of leg-spinner Eric Hollies, Tom Dollery’s side clinched it with three games to spare. In 1972, Alan Smith’s side breakfasted on kippers and champagne on the morning of the first day of their last fixture, at Trent Bridge, the title already having been secured.

In ’94, the treble-chasers won it in the penultimate match. In 2004, Nick Knight’s men were declared championship ahead of their last game in quiet fashion – they were not actually playing but others missed out on crucial bonus points elsewhere. In 2012, Jim Troughton’s buccaneering unit rolled Worcestershire over at New Road to ensure that they could travel up to Nottingham for their final game with the pressure off.

In 1911 and 1995, however, Warwickshire had work still to do going into the final fixture. The situation was not quite the same as that facing Will Rhodes’s side this week when the Bears must win and hope that is enough to keep them ahead of the rest. In ’11 and ’95, victory would secure the prize for sure but there was still pressure – and Foster and Reeve showed their genius for leadership to ensure that the prize was landed.

The Bears’ 1911 triumph remains perhaps the most sensational championship campaign ever recorded by any county. They started the season as a rabble and were stuffed by Surrey at The Oval by an innings in two days. The committee decided that urgent action was required.

Brilliant all-rounder Frank Foster did not play at The Oval. A true maverick, although only 22, he had announced his retirement the previous winter. But when the committee, which included his father, went to him after the shambolic defeat at Surrey and begged him not only to return, but as captain, he agreed.

The transformation was immediate and spectacular. Foster’s men won the next game, against Lancashire at Old Trafford, and unfurled victory after victory until they went into the last match, away to Northamptonshire, knowing that victory would bring the title to Edgbaston for the first time.

The brilliant bowling of Foster and Frank Field had underpinned the title charge and they soon made short work of the home batsmen, rattling them all out for 73. An aggressive century from Crowther Charlesworth then lifted the Bears to 281 and the brink of the title. Northamptonshire closed the second day on 137 for seven second time round…and then it rained!

With more poor weather forecast, and his side on the threshold of history, Foster thought outside the box (to be fair, he pretty much lived outside the box!). On Monday night, he kept his team up late into the night in  the bar, playing snooker and cards to relax them. They needed to stay relaxed, all night it rained.  

It rained into the next morning but relented just after lunchtime and play began at 3pm. The Bears polished off the last three wickets and that first title was theirs.   

When the Bears travelled to Canterbury for the last game of 1995, Reeve did not keep them up in the bar all night during the game. He did think outside the box in one crucial way, however, though Warwickshire’s side that year was such a juggernaut that, by that stage, all he had to do was let it roll on.

The Bears batted first and piled up 468 for six as Nick Knight scored 174, his first championship century for the county, and Roger Twose 109 in his last game as a Bear. Kent were soon 20 for four in reply as Allan Donald (two for 48) and Reeve (five for 30) got among them.

In the second innings came Reeve’s creative thinking. He threw the new ball to spinner Ashley Giles…who rapidly dismissed Kent top three Mark Benson, Trevor Ward and Nigel Llong as Kent lurched to 41 for four. Just after 5pm on the third day, Min Patel edged Donald to Neil Smith at slip and the Bears were champions.

Just like Foster all those years before him, Reeve had shown his genius for leadership.  It remains to be seen whether Will Rhodes will keep the 2021 Bears up all night playing cards and snooker on Monday evening.

Championship Rewind: Warwickshire v Somerset, 2014

When Somerset visited Edgbaston in the county championship in 2014, they faced a young Warwickshire batsman called Sam Hain for the first time.

The game was heavily rain-affected and petered out into a draw but the 18-year-old, in only his second first class match, showed his class with a diligent 32 in a stand of 87 with Will Porterfield.

When Somerset arrived at Edgbaston the following year, Hain, though still only two days past his 20th birthday, was playing his 18th first class match. Redolent of Gladstone Small in a previous era, he was filling a key role in the team which usually fell upon players of far greater experience.

He could handle it. The westcountrymen found out just how well he could handle it.

Somerset chose to bat but totalled only 265 against a high class attack led by Jeetan Patel (five for 89), Chris Woakes (three for 48) and Rikki Clarke (two for 21). The pitch was a good cricket wicket, offering something to all bowlers, so required skilful batting…and that is what Hain offered when the Bears replied.

After Ian Westwood (66) and Jonathan Trott (87) laid a solid platform, Hain held together the middle and lower orders which struggled against Alfonso Thomas and Craig Overton,

While the potentially power-laden six, seven, eight, nine of Tim Ambrose, Clarke, Woakes and Keith Barker made just 14 between them, Hain dug in until support arrived. When it did, in the form of a merry 41 from Patel, the young batsman advanced to an accomplished century, ending with an unbeaten 103 in just over four hours from 169 balls with 12 fours.

Hain’s craftsmanship lifted Warwickshire to 365 all out, a lead of 100, and that bowling attack then delivered again. Patel (nine for 136 in the match) and Clarke took four wickets apiece and though Tom Abell, playing only his 13th championship match, batted through the innings for 88, Somerset totalled only 170.

Needing 71 to win, the Bears wobbled to 36 for three before Hain arrived to fittingly see them home. The young batsman had put in a thoroughly senior player’s performance. Reports from Arbroath indicated that here was a guy who would win many games for the Bears.

Those reports were spot on…Hain will face Somerset this week still only 25 years old but already with 201 games for the Bears in senior cricket, 8,562 runs and countless match-winning performances in his locker. A class act.