Mon 15 - Thu 18 Sep, 10:30
Report: Warwickshire vs Essex, Rothesay County Championship
Day Four
Warwickshire (did not bat) drew with Essex (325 for five)
Warwickshire 9 points, Essex 10.
Essex virtually secured their Rothesay County Championship Division One status as their match with Warwickshire ended in a rain-ruined draw at Edgbaston.
No play was possible due to rain on the final day, meaning that three of the four days were completely blank.
Essex collected ten points from the draw, putting them pretty much safe from relegation as two of the teams below them – Yorkshire and Durham – meet in next week’s final round of games. It would now take an extraordinary combination of results and bonus points to drag Essex through the trapdoor with Worcestershire.
It was a sodden and sorry scene at Edgbaston as Warwickshire’s home season came to an anti-climatic close. After high winds prevented play on the first day and rain did so on the third, persistent drizzle overnight and on the fourth morning again left conditions unplayable. Essex were denied the chance to resume from the 325 for five that they build on the second day.
Tom Westley’s side at least took a solid ten points from the draw – a more productive return than from the drawn encounter between these teams in their inaugural championship meeting at Edgbaston in 1895. After three days of hard work and effort, the points gained from that game, in which, incidentally 21 players made their championship debuts, were Warwickshire 0 Essex 0.
Essex captain Tom Westley said:
“It’s been a frustrating few days but obviously there’s not much we can do about the weather. There was a substantial amount of rain yesterday which meant the outfield was too wet today.
“It’s a shame because I think we played some good cricket on the one day where play was possible. On a wicket that had quite a bit in it for the bowlers, we were in quite a good position.
“It was another excellent innings from Charlie Allison who is just going from strength to strength at the moment, and he was supported by good contributions right the way through, from Pepps, Critch and Dean. I thought it was a good batting display on a wicket that did offer quite a bit of seam movement and set the game up really well.
“As a club we always look up the table and that’s why it would have been nice to get a result against Warwickshire who are just above us in the table. We’re going to have a big game against Somerset, a home game, and hopefully we can give our supporters something to cheer about.”
Day Three
Essex (325 for five) lead Warwickshire by 321 runs
Warwickshire and Essex are heading for a Rothesay County Championship draw after a third day washout at Edgbaston.
There was never a chance of play after heavy overnight rain was followed by steady further rain during the morning, leading to a 2pm abandonment.
With the first day having also been washed out, the match will go into the fourth today tomorrow still in its first innings with Essex on 321 for five.
The match is certain to end in a draw which will secure Essex’s Division One status.
Day Two
Essex batted solidly on the second day of their Rothesay County Championship match with Warwickshire at Edgbaston to advance towards the draw that would secure their Division One status.
Essex closed on 325 for five with Charlie Allison’s 98 (175 balls) heading an impressive collective effort. No batter scored fewer than 25 while Michael Pepper made 54 not out (94), Dean Elgar 48 (111) and Matt Critchley 47 (64).
After a washout on the first day and, judging by the weather forecast, very little play likely on the third tomorrow, this match appears nailed on for a draw, which would send both teams into next week’s final games safely clear of the bottom two.
In their last home match of the season, Warwickshire chose to bowl and were unlucky not to take more than one wicket in the morning session. Olly Hannon-Dalby in particular maintained high pressure, conceding just three runs from his first seven overs, but the ball frequently beat the bat rather than taking the edge.
Elgar and Paul Walter added 41 in 14 overs before the latter was lured into driving at a wide ball from Nathan Gilchrist and edged to wicketkeeper Alex Davies. Elgar moved diligently to 48 in 144 minutes, then perished in similar fashion to his opening partner. The left-hander edged Gilchrist to second slip, where Rob Yates accepted his 15th championship catch of the season.
When Westley drove around an Ethan Bamber yorker, Essex were 111 for three, but Allison and Critchley ensured there was no collapse with a measured partnership of 98 in 25 overs. Critchley was closing in on his 33rd first-class half-century when he nicked an excellent ball from Michael Booth to Davies.
Allison found another resolute partner in Pepper. Both scored championship centuries against Warwickshire at Chelmsford in July, and this time they added 77 in 20 overs. Allison, having spent quite some time in the 90s, then attacked the wrong ball from Bamber, and Rob Yates accepted his 16th championship catch of the season.
That proved to be the only wicket with the new ball. Again, Warwickshire’s seamers bowled well without much luck, but Pepper completed his half-century in the day’s penultimate over and Essex can be well-satisfied with a strong day’s work by their batters.
Without Shane Snater (calf injury) and Sam Cook, who sustained a broken thumb during The Hundred, Essex are giving a first-class debut to seamer Charlie Bennett.
Warwickshire bowler Ethan Bamber said: “I think we bowled very well as a unit. Olly Hannon-Dalby was fantastic – how he didn’t get a wicket amazes me. When you bowl like that, you deserve a five-for. He bowled beautifully, but as a group, I think we did really well. Sometimes, as a group, you can come off the field and think ‘we were a little bit off it today’, but today, throughout the whole day, barring one over I bowled this morning, we were really good. When you bowl like that on another day, you are coming off with them all out for 280.
“We bowled predominantly in good areas with good consistency and good commitment to plans. Then you rely a little bit on the ball going to hand, and that didn’t happen for us today, but if we keep bowling to that level, hopefully we will be in a good position come the end of the game.
“It has been a long season, but this is a fantastic group. Well-led and directed from the top, so of course, we are still giving it everything. I know I always have to try as hard as I can because I’m not good enough not to. You are playing for a great club with great people and just want to put in as much as you can.”
Day One
No play was possible due to high winds on the opening day of the Rothesay County Championship match between Warwickshire and Essex at Edgbaston.
The strong winds caused the umpires to keep the players off the field due to consequent “safety concerns around players and groundstaff.”
It meant frustration for spectators and players alike in Birmingham, though at least the two teams, locked in mid-table in Division One, know the weather won’t cost them potentially crucial points in terms of either a championship challenge or a survival struggle. Both are out of contention for the title and out of danger from finishing in the bottom two.
The teams now face a three-day match and the spectators will hope it turns out to be a cracker like the one between them at Edgbaston in 1977. On that occasion, Essex set Warwickshire a target of 357 on the final day and won a thriller by eight runs after the home side, fuelled by Dennis Amiss (100) and Eddie Hemmimgs (85), fell just short on 348. Stuart Turner took four for 69 while there were two wickets apiece for John Lever, Ray East and David Acfield.
When the 2025 contest begins tomorrow, the players will be wearing black armbands in honour of former Warwickshire and England player John Jameson who sadly died last weekend. Jameson played four Tests for England and scored 18,941 first class runs, mostly in memorably buccaneering style, between 1960 and 1976.
