Warwickshire County Cricket Club men’s team has confirmed red ball friendly matches with Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire ahead of the revised start to the new county season on 1 August.

The Bears will host Nottinghamshire at Edgbaston on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 July before facing Worcestershire* on Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 July, with the venue for the latter fixture to be confirmed once the full programme of 2020 county fixtures has been released by the England & Wales Cricket Board.

“We’ve had agreements in place for friendlies with both counties for the last two weeks. Now that we have clarity on the formats, following Tuesday’s vote, we can set the dates and confirm that both matches will be played with the red ball.

Paul Farbrace

“It’s been great to have the players training again at Edgbaston with sessions in the nets on the Colts Ground, fielding training on the main outfield and time in the gym to support their conditioning work. However, it’s important that we also build game time into this pre-season programme and provide some competitive opportunities before we get underway on 1 August.

“We’re grateful to Nottinghamshire and Worcestershire for their support in confirming these fixtures.”

Both friendly matches are currently scheduled to be played behind closed doors. However, Warwickshire CCC does plan to live stream any fixture that is played at Edgbaston. Further details will be released closer to the games on Edgbaston.com.

*Match with Worcestershire could be amended to a three-day game starting on Sunday 26 July.