Jeetan Patel heaps praise on his bowling unit after the Bears secured their first win of Specsavers County Championship season.
Captain Jeetan Patel was delighted that Warwickshire’s bowling department showed its strength in depth during the innings-and-48-run victory over Northamptonshire last week.
The emphatic win, which sprung the Bears to the top of the Specsavers County Championship Division Two table, owed much to a seam-bowling unit that collectively squeezed the life out of the home batting.
It proved that we have got a little bit of depth to the bowling.
Jeetan Patel
Key to that effort were Ryan Sidebottom and Henry Brookes who came in for the injured Keith Barker and Olly Stone and shared 13 wickets in the match.
Along with Chris Wright, and Patel himself as the spin option, they maintained match-winning pressure on Northamptonshire – to the delight of the captain.
“We attacked quite a bit on the second evening and came away a little bit disappointed not to get a wicket when they got to 40 without loss,” Patel said. “But I couldn’t have asked for any more than the way the guys bowled on the third day.
“It proved that we have got a little bit of depth to the bowling. Sidebottom was outstanding and Brookes was brilliant and that’s what we need to do, keep building those bowling stocks because at some point we are going to lose guys.
“The way the bowlers attacked the stumps and asked good questions for long periods of time, even when the ball was old and not doing much, was really impressive. That was the best part about it.”
Warwickshire now miss a round of Specsavers County Championship matches before resuming at home to Derbyshire next Thursday.
“It’s nice to get an early win on the board in the second game,” Patel said. “But the best thing for me was how we went about it. The guys played really good, consistent cricket and that should hopefully breed a lot of confidence going forward.
“We have a week off now and the guys can rest up have a think and see what they can get better at – because there are always things we can get better at.”
