Vital points in the title race are at stake over the next four days at Headingley as Warwickshire resume their Specsavers County Championship campaign against reigning champions Yorkshire in Leeds.
Four-day cricket returns tomorrow at the start of what is sure to be a fascinating championship run-in. The top six sides in Division One are separated by just 25 points and all are well in contention for the title.
The Bears sit third in Division One, 20 points behind leaders Middlesex who still have to come to Edgbaston, and victory over Yorkshire would lift the Bears right to the forefront of the title race.
They are aiming to build on the momentum from Monday night’s emphatic Royal London Cup win over the White Rose.
And director of cricket Dougie Brown insists his team are full of confidence as they prepare to face a team which has given the Bears some beatings in recent years but was firmly on the back-foot, and forced into a desperate, last-day rearguard action, when the teams met at Headingley last season.
“We haven’t beaten Yorkshire in the championship for a while but have performed well against them in our last two meetings,” Brown said.
“Last year at Headingley we played some really good cricket to dominate the match but then just couldn’t force a win. At Edgbaston earlier this season we played well and led on first innings only for rain to intervene.
“We know what a strong unit Yorkshire are and have been in recent years, but we carry some good form in the championship into the game and we will go into it full of confidence. We are off the back of an excellent performance all-round in the RL Cup on Monday so we’ll just try to carry that on.
“It is a really tight championship First Division season which sets us up for a very exciting run-in. But nobody is looking too far ahead – we have just got to concentrate on what’s in front of us now, try to get a good result in Leeds and see where that takes us.
“It’s a game that we are really looking forward to, between two good sides challenging hard in Division One – the sort of game you always want to be involved in.”
The match will arrive just too soon for paceman Boyd Rankin as he recovers from a back injury but the Bears will select from this 14-strong squad.
Warwickshire Squad
- Ian Bell (Captain)
- Tim Ambrose (Wicket-Keeper)
- Keith Barker
- Varun Chopra
- Rikki Clarke
- Recordo Gordon
- Sam Hain
- Oliver Hannon-Dalby
- Ateeq Javid
- Jeetan Patel
- Josh Poysden
- Jonathan Trott
- Andy Umeed
- Chris Wright
