In partnership with Lord Combustion, we're taking a look at some of the best performances from a Bear in a white ball final.
September 17, 2016, brought cup final glory for Warwickshire – and a wonderful farewell to Lord’s for a Bears and England legend.
The Bears trounced Surrey by eight wickets at the home of cricket thanks to a superb collective bowling and fielding display – and then a batting masterclass from Jonathan Trott.
Trotty’s distinguished career with Warwickshire and England included many days to treasure but he regards that one as right up there with the best.
“The whole day, with the Bears fans in full voice at Lord’s, was fantastic,” he recalls.
Warwickshire took control by bowling Surrey’s star-studded batting line up out for just 136. Some wonderful catches supported a bowling attack in which everyone kept the pressure on as Chris Wright, Chris Woakes, Jeetan Patel, Ateeq Javid and Olly Hannon-Dalby all took wickets.
That left the Bears a modest target but Surrey’s dangerous bowling armoury, led by Jade Dernbach and Tom and Sam Curran, were determined to hit back hard. Early wickets would mean very much ‘game on.’ The huge Bears travelling support need have no worries.
Trott didn’t put a foot wrong. He and Sam Hain put on 45 in ten overs and when Hain fell, and Surrey had a sliver of hope, Trott snuffed it out with batting of flawless class.
He was unbeaten on 82 (100 balls, ten fours) when the target was reached with eight wickets and 19.4 overs to spare.
None of his team-mates struck more than one boundary – they didn’t need to. Trott had taken responsibility for the chase and executed it, almost single-handedly, perfectly.
“The bowlers had done a brilliant job to set us quite a small target,” he said. “Surrey were going like a train at the start but we managed to claw them back in with some excellent bowling and good catches and then we reached the target quite comfortably.
“The whole day was great fun. For me, coming to the end of my playing career. it was the sort of the culmination of it all. I have been very lucky to be part of quite a few days like that with Warwickshire.”
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