Report: Warwickshire v Nottinghamshire, Rothesay County Championship

Day One

Nottinghamshire struck two early blows against Warwickshire before rain wiped out the bulk of the opening day of their Rothesay County Championship Division One match at Edgbaston.

Play started on time, but just 9.2 overs were possible before the rain arrived with the home side on 34 for two, having been put in.

Having chosen to bowl, Nottinghamshire removed both opening batters in the first five overs. Rob Yates fell to the second ball of the match, and Alex Davies to the 27^th. Brett Hutton inflicted the damage with similar deliveries, rapid in-duckers which trapped the batter half-forward to win an lbw decision.

Hamza Shaikh and Sam Hain, the latter looking in excellent nick, avoided further mishap before the rain arrived. It was a frustrating day for both teams, who are keen to build on the momentum of a strong start to the season, each having secured a win and a draw from their first two games.

Both have made one change to their team. Olly Hannon-Dalby, having recovered from a quad injury, returns in place of Tazeem Ali for Warwickshire. Nottinghamshire’s switch is in the pace attack, where Josh Tongue replaces the injured Dillon Pennington. 

Ian Westwood said, “It has been frustrating. It hasn’t rained hard but drizzle has kept us off for the majority of the day. We would have bowled first if we had won the toss bearing in mind the bit of green in the pitch and with the overheads that are normally quite important here.

“We are pleased to have Olly Hannon-Dalby back in the team. It is a purely tactical change with the conditions in useind because Tazeem Ali did brilliantly for us in the first two games and will definitely have a big part to play for us this season. Conditions in this game, with rain around, are far from ideal for a young leg-spin bowler in April in England, but Taz has shown what quality he brings and we will definitely be utilising him throughout the season.

“It’s great to have Olly back and also good that with a five-man seam attack, we will be able to look after him a little bit more. We all look forward to seeing him perform out there again because he’s been phenomenal for us over the last few years.”

Squad: Warwickshire v Nottinghamshire, Rothesay County Championship

Ian Westwood names one change to the 12-man squad for Warwickshire’s Easter Weekend clash against Nottinghamshire.

Bears favourite Olly Hannon-Dalby has passed his fitness test and is fit to play against Nottinghamshire if selected. Hannon-Dalby has taken 50 wickets in the last three consecutive County Championship seasons and has become an essential part of the Bears outfit.

He comes in for Che Simmons in the only change to the squad, and will be keen to make an impact if selected following the Bears outstanding run-chase over Durham in the last round.

This is the 140th meeting of these two teams in this competition; Warwickshire have won 36 and lost 41. The last five results: D, D, D, W, W.

Squad

Davies (c)
T Ali
Bamber
Barnard
Booth
Fernando
Hain
Hannon-Dalby
Mousley
Shaikh
Smith
Yates

How to follow

Members and supporters can follow the match live in our Match Centre at edgbaston.com, which will include a free-to-watch stream and a live text commentary. You can also see a ball-by-ball feed and watch highlights of all the action.

Supporters can get involved by sending their match-day comments and thoughts on Twitter via @WarwickshireCCC and we’ll publish the best ones on our live text commentary in the Match Centre.

Supporters can also watch the Live Stream and get instant push notifications of all wickets, innings and match results via the Edgbaston app, which is free to download on iOS and Android.

Match updates will also be available across the Club’s social media accounts, simply search for @WarwickshireCCC.

Injury Update: OHD in squad to face Notts

Olly Hannon-Dalby is fit and in the squad to face Notts ahead of this weekend’s top-of-the-table clash.

OHD was ruled out of the opening round of the Rothesay County Championship with a quad tear, and despite making good progress in his recovery, the trip to Durham was a bridge too far.

He bowled 14 overs in the Second XI this week against SACA and is primed to make his return against Notts if selected.

Chris Rushworth remains sidelined, with no fresh injury concerns following the Bears’ fourth-day victory over Durham.

Match Preview: Bears looking to carry momentum after historic fourth day victory

Bears pulled off a miraculous run chase on Monday, starting the day on 12/0, with 96 overs to reach the 339 runs required to win.

The challenge was even more difficult after the Bears slipped to 90/5 at lunch, only for the pair of Ed Barnard and Kai Smith to bat the entire afternoon session and put the Bears in a strong position.

Smith fell soon after the tea break, but Barnard fought on, bringing up his 10th First-Class century off 133 balls, a supreme knock under pressure.

However, Barnard fell the very next ball strangled down the legside, leaving it up to the lower-order to make the 54 needed to win.

After a nervy hour of cricket, Ethan Bamber finished the job by belting a six straight down the ground to secure victory by one wicket.

First Team Coach Ian Westwood said, “When you win those games, it feels amazing. It was really exciting, sparked great celebrations from us, and wins like that can do a lot for the group and the confidence.”

“It’s just the start, we’re not the finished article, we’ve got a lot of hard work to do. We still haven’t taken 20 wickets, so that’s something we need to keep pushing towards.”

It was a particularly good match for the younger members of the Bears outfit, with Tazeem Ali claiming four wickets, Kai Smith scoring a brace of half-centuries, and Michael Booth taking seven wickets and scoring 98 runs in the game, including his maiden First-Class half-century.

“You want young players to come in and have an impact and show that they’re good enough, and that is what’s happened.

“That creates good competition for places and grows the squad. Obviously, there are some selection headaches, but that’s what you need to keep driving everybody on, keep our standards high and looking to improve all the time.”

Following their 21-point victory, the Bears are now joint top of Division One alongside newly promoted Sussex and this Easter Weekend’s opponents, Nottinghamshire.

Dillon Pennington and Conor McKerr are both sidelined due to injury, with Pennington suffering a side strain and McKerr pulling up in a second XI fixture this week.

Westwood reiterated his earlier point that there are no easy fixtures in Division One and that the Bears must bring their best against their Midland and table rivals.

“They’ve got a nice balance to their attack, some good batters, and they’ll be confident having won and drawn one, and made a solid start to the season.

“They’ll be strong and they’ll be confident, so we’ll need to be at our best to compete and hopefully beat them.”

Bears vs: Notts in Midlands top of the table clash over Easter weekend 

Bears are looking to capitalise on their momentum as they welcome fellow table toppers and East Midlands club Nottinghamshire to Edgbaston over the Easter weekend.

Notts come into the game off the back of a comprehensive victory over Durham in the first round, followed by a sound performance over regular title contenders Essex to secure a comfortable draw.

These results have left them joint top of the table alongside newly promoted Sussex and the Bears.

On Monday, Jack Haynes scored his first century since joining Notts from Worcestershire in 2024 and is their leading run scorer with 195 runs in three innings.

Overseas, Fergus O’Neill is the Division’s leading wicket taker with 11 wickets in his 2 outings, including best bowling of 5/81.

O’Neill is backed up by the return to action of England Test bowler Josh Tongue, who is playing professional domestic cricket for the first time since 2023, and marked his comeback with 7 wickets against Durham, including his 10th First-Class 5fer (5/66). 

2024

Notts had a difficult time in the top division last year and found themselves in a relegation battle right up until the last game of the season, where they drew against Warwickshire with both sides securing safety.

They managed victories over Kent and Lancashire on the way to safety, the two sides to be relegated.

Their batting was led by captain Haseeb Hameed, who scored 1,091 runs in the Championship, the 3rd time he has achieved this in his career.

He was ably supported by opening partner Ben Slater (949 runs) and Joe Clarke (917).

On the bowling front, Dillon Pennington impressed during his first season at Notts with 31 wickets at 23.80.

Yet, he was slightly overshadowed by the late emergence of the young and impressive Farhan Ahmed (17), who took 22 wickets in six innings at 23.22 a piece, including an incredible 7/140 on debut to spin out future champions, Surrey.

Signings

Fergus O’Neill has made a splash since touching down on English shores.

The 6-foot-4 Australian looks well suited to English conditions and is following on from a strong Sheffield Shield, where he finished the 2nd top wicket taker in the Division with 40 wickets at 21.07, the second year in a row he’s taken 40 wickets.

Kyle Verreyne has also returned to the East Midlands after a successful period with Notts last season, where has scored 248 runs in four innings, including three not-outs, which gave him an average of 248.

The South African international has hit the ground running on his return, posting a century against Essex in round two. Coming in at 78-4, Verreyne repelled one of the most highly rated attacks in England, scoring 128* to anchor the Notts first innings and ultimately set up the draw.

On the domestic front, they have bought in Conor McKerr from Surrey. McKerr has been consistently loaned out by Surrey over the last four years and was released in the off-season before being signed by Notts on a three-year deal.

Luke Fletcher and Alex Hales have both been released, whilst Fateh Singh and Jacob Duffy have moved across the Midlands to Worcestershire, and Dane Paterson has dropped a Division to play for Middlesex.