Preview: Warwickshire v Worcestershire, One Day Cup

The Metro Bank One Day Cup has thrown up a local derby Quarter Final as Warwickshire take on Worcestershire at Edgbaston for a place in the last four.

Worcestershire finished runners-up in Group A but will play their ‘home’ Quarter Final in Birmingham (16 Aug, 11am) as their New Road ground is currently hosting the England Lions vs Sri Lanka.

The Bears made a lightning start to their Group B campaign with five wins on the trot.

But they had to settle for a third placed finish having failed to win in their last three outings, two of which were rain affected.

Warwickshire First Team Coach Mark Robinson will draw on the same 13-player squad that lost by 12 runs (DLS method) to Nottinghamshire at Rugby School on Wednesday.

Olly Hannon-Dalby was rested for that game but is in line to return to the side.

Batter Zen Malik, unluckily given out caught behind on Sunday when replays suggest the ball clipped his thigh, and Kiwi seamer Michael Rae could both make their first starts at Edgbaston.

Robinson said: “We fought hard against Notts but, in a game that was changed by the rain, they played well in the conditions. That’s what you have to do.

“It went from being quite a difficult pitch, with the ball stopping for the seamers and with quite big, vicious turn for the slower bowlers, to quite a good wicket after all the drizzle.

“In the end with Glamorgan winning (to top the group) it all became a bit irrelevant as we’ve still got a home game in the quarters and now with the added edge that it’s against our local rivals.

“We’re still missing Rob Yates and Hamza Shaikh who are on England Lions duty but we’ll attack the game with conviction and see where it takes us.

“It’s a mouth-watering tie and one that will hopefully attract a few Bears and Pears fans, despite the short notice and quick turnaround. The weather certainly looks set for a good day’s play.”

Worcestershire won five of their eight group games and secured second place thanks to a superior run rate that was underpinned by some explosive batting.

Jacob Libby is tournament’s leading run scorer with 414 and an average of 103.50. Gareth Roderick is also among the top scorers (389) while former Bear Ed Pollock blasted 180 in 138 balls against Middlesex in July which is the competition’s highest score.

Robinson added: “Olly will come back into the reckoning tomorrow. As we’d already qualified we saw it as a free hit, and with the prospect of Olly playing Friday and Sunday, ahead of the County Championship return on Thursday, we gave him some breathing space.

“We brought in Michael Rae who did brilliantly. Zen was unlucky, those things can happen. But he’ll have dreamed about playing at Edgbaston and hopefully he can make an impact in the Quarter Final.

“Worcestershire have some good First Class players with lots of experience, a good batting line-up supported by a young bowling attack. The left-arm spinner Fateh Singh has also done well on loan from Notts (15 wickets).

“There’s a lot on the line as both sides will have one eye on the final at Trent Bridge next month, the chance of silverware and a great day out for the fans. We’ll be doing everything we can to get there.”

Squad

T Ali
Barnard
Benjamin
Booth
Burgess
Hannon-Dalby
Lintott
Malik
Miles
Rae
Rhodes
Smith
Wylie

How to follow

Members and supporters can follow the match live in our Match Centre at edgbaston.com, which will include a free-to-watch Live Stream and a live text commentary. You can also see a ball-by-ball feed and watch highlights of all the action.

Supporters can get involved by sending their match-day comments and thoughts on Twitter via @WarwickshireCCC and we’ll publish the best ones on our live text commentary in the Match Centre.

Supporters can also watch the Live Stream and get instant push notifications of all wickets, innings and match results via the Edgbaston app, which is free to download on iOS and Android.

Match updates will also be available across the Club’s social media accounts, simply search for @WarwickshireCCC.