Lintott loving One Day Cup run but says Bears need ruthless streak

Jake Lintott said the togetherness of the squad has been the catalyst behind Warwickshire’s charge in the Metro Bank One Day Cup – as he passed a career milestone in the nail-biting win at Sussex.

Lintott described the bond in the group as “special” and that everyone has contributed to a near flawless Group B campaign that ended in Hove with a seventh win in eight games to top the table.

“We’ve played some great cricket in this competition and we deserve that home semi-final,” said the 30-year-old who surpassed 100 career wicket across the three formats in Tuesday’s one-wicket win.

“The changing room is a special place right now, we’re all fighting for one another and very close as a group. Fearless young lads have come through (Kai Smith made only his second senior appearance as wicketkeeper at Sussex), senior players are standing up and people contributing all the time. 

“We’re in a good place as a squad: we finished top of the Blast group, now top in the One Day Cup, so our white ball cricket has been good this year.

“I’ve really enjoyed playing in this competition. It’s nice to bowl longer spells, it’s coming out nicely, I’ve enjoyed format and I’m pleased to have contributed (11 wickets). Hopefully I can get a few more in the finals.”

But Lintott – who’s played all eight One Day Cup games – said despite the impressive record in qualification, the team knows they could have been more ruthless in their last two outings.

He added: “It got a bit closer than we would have liked at Sussex, but two points is two points and we learnt a lot from that game. 

“We’ve spoken through the game as a team, we’re a bit disappointed in the last two games and how we’ve gone about chasing down totals. We got ourselves into good positions but let teams back in…so that’s good learning for us going into knockout cricket. We can take a lot from the games.

“We’ve got a few days off now. The boys are tired at the minute, we’ll take stock, reflect, it’s all largely positive, but we need to recharge. I’ll play a bit of golf, and chill, enjoy the weekend, come back in Saturday and Monday, training and get ready for Tuesday.”