OHD: “It’s time to shake off the transition tag”

Olly Hannon-Dalby believes it is time for Warwickshire to "shake off the transition tag" and challenge hard to bring some trophies to Edgbaston.

Hannon-Dalby, who had led the Bears pace attack brilliantly for the last two seasons, will again be at the heart of matters when they start their LV=County Championship campaign against Derbyshire at Edgbaston on August 8.

Warwickshire’s squad has undergone significant changes in recent seasons. The team which faces Derbyshire on Thursday is likely to include just four of the side which opened the championship season against Kent in 2019.

But, in professional sport, players come and go. Squads evolve. Successful teams deal with that and now it’s time for the Bears, under captain Will Rhodes, to show they have that strength and quality, reckons Hannon-Dalby.

“I think the skipper has put it well,” he said.

“Will said we have hidden a little bit behind the transition phase tag for a little too long. It’s time we started putting in some good performance and hopefully winning some trophies for the Bears. We’ve got a young squad that has now played quite a bit of first team cricket, so it’s time to shake off the transition tag.

Olly Hannon-Dalby

“We want to challenge in all formats and, first up, to start the championship season really well. We are in a strong group but none of the groups will be easy. First class cricket in this country is in a pretty good place so all the groups will be difficult, but we definitely want to be in that top two and progress into the top division in Super September with a chance of winning the championship. That’s definitely the aim.”

On a personal level, Hannon-Dalby will be looking to deliver more of the same after two fine seasons which have seen him become very much leader of the Bears’ red ball attack.

He will be one of the first names on the team-sheet to face Derbyshire – though the ever-modest Yorkshireman does not see it that way. The 31-year-old will just be happy to be selected from an impressive array of seam options also including Olly Stone, Henry Brookes, Liam Norwell, Tim Bresnan, Ryan Sidebottom, Craig Miles and George Garrett.

“We all look around the squad and think, ‘jeez, am I going to be playing?’ because there are some serious players there and serious decisions to be made,” he said. “There are big some selection headaches coming up and I’m glad I don’t have to make them.

“I certainly hope I’ll be involved. I have loved playing red ball cricket in the last two years and opening the bowling, so I would certainly love to crack on where I left off and take a few more wickets for the Bears.”