Report: Warwickshire v Nottinghamshire friendly - Day One
The Bears bowling attack didn’t skip a bit on their return to action after they restricted Nottinghamshire to 182/12 from 60 overs on day one of the two-day friendly at Edgbaston.
Led by Oliver Hannon-Dalby – who finished with 12-5-29-5, Warwickshire put pressure on their Midlands rivals throughout the two sessions.
Craig Miles followed the popular seamer with three for 29 from 10 overs, whilst Olly Stone, who was released from the England bubble to play in the fixture, dovetailed nicely with fellow opener Hannon-Dalby to finish with two for 29. Alex Thomson also took two wickets for 44.
Ryan Sidebottom returning from a long injury layoff, which cost him nearly the whole of 2019, finished wicketless from his 10 overs despite plenty of LBW shouts.
New signing Tim Bresnan followed with 0 for 12 from his five overs.
The Bears in reply reached 144 for 5 after 40 overs, trailing by 38 runs.
Ian Bell, who missed the whole of 2019 through injury, showed the Bears his immense talent striking nine fours to reach 63 (96 balls) before being caught at mid-on off Samit Patel.
In a pre-arranged set-up, Warwickshire would field for the first 60 overs and bat for as long as possible in the final session.
The Bears got off to a strong start through Hannon-Dalby who looked like he’d never been away from the cricket field after taking 44 first-class wickets last campaign.
Moving the ball away from left-hander Ben Slater, Will Rhodes took an excellent catch diving across Tim Bresnan at first slip to take the opener’s edge one-handed.
Bresnan would have comfortably caught Slater, but he didn’t have to wait too long for an opportunity as Ben Compton found the Yorkshireman off Hannon-Dalby for nine.
Hannon-Dalby continued to frustrate the Notts batsman from the Birmingham End and it was former Worcestershire batsman Joe Clarke who next fell, trapped LBW for 0.
Nottinghamshire struggling on 35 for 3 were led however by winter recruit Haseeb Hameed and headed into lunch on 91/3 following a strong partnership with Steven Mullaney.
But that partnership was broken soon after the interval as Stone ripped Mullaney’s off-stump out of the ground for 26.
From there a succession of single scores followed as Stone trapped Patel LBW for four, Tom Moores edged Hannon-Dalby to Burgess for the same amount, whilst Joey Evison completed Hannon-Dalby’s five-fer out LBW for two.
Hameed’s instrumental innings came at an end also, bowled for 65 (123 balls, 10 fours, one six) by Thomson leaving Notts 125 for eight after 41.4 overs.
Experienced bowler Peter Trego led an entertaining cameo of 38 (39 balls, six fours) but he played one shot too many, hooking Miles to Sidebottom at deep square leg.
From there the Bears went up a gear as Thomson caught and bowled Chappell for six and Miles getting the returning Clarke out again for one, edging to first slip Bresnan.
Luke Fletcher trapped LBW by Miles for six was the final wicket to fall.
The Bears reply started with a blip as Rhodes played on for 10 off the bowling of Jake Ball.
From there, Ian Bell joined Rob Yates at the crease taking the Bears from 11 for one to 42 for 2, before Yates was caught at gully for 16. Matt Lamb, next in, was caught at second-slip at the second attempt, for four, but Adam Hose helped move the hosts closer to Notts’ target with a controlled 38 from 62 balls (eight fours).
Bell, who put on 69 with the Isle of Wight native, was removed with just over five overs left in the day, as was wicket-keeper Burgess who edged to Moores for eight.
Tim Bresnan (1 run) helped close out play with Hose.
Warwickshire will continue to bat tomorrow morning before fielding once again later in the afternoon.
That decision will be weather dependent as rain is forecast after 1 pm.
