Captain Will Rhodes described the Metro Bank One Day Cup win against Gloucestershire as the “perfect performance” as he led Warwickshire to victory in his 200th game in professional cricket.
Rhodes couldn’t find fault with any aspect of his team’s eight-wicket success which was built on a stunning bowling blitz by Ed Barnard and Olly Hannon-Dalby that yielded four wickets in the first 21 deliveries.
But he’s warned against complacency after two wins from two as the Bears head to Glamorgan on Thursday.
“I think all round we were fantastic,” said the 28-year-old. “Bat, ball and in the field, all three parts of our game we were tremendous. We’ve taken confidence from Taunton into the game and blown them away.
“Gloucestershire are a good team, they came into the game unbeaten, so to take them down, for the second year in a row, is really pleasing.
“It’s crucial we don’t get complacent. When you get off to a good start in a campaign it can be easy to take your foot off the gas. We don’t want to do that. We’ve missed out (in the One Day Cup) in the last couple of years but we want to go one step further and get into those knockouts.
“We’ve played two almost perfect games so far. We’ll get tested more, we know that, and tested in ways that we haven’t in these two games, but we feel like we’ve got the team, we’re gelling really well so hopefully we can keep this momentum rolling.
“Olly and Barney gave us the perfect start. That’s what you want as a captain, to get wickets in the first 10 overs, so to get four in the Powerplay was amazing and I felt we’d won the game by that point.
“You know what you’re getting with these two guys. You’re not likely to get a bad game and teams have to come out and take risks to score off them.
“Olly delivers game in, game out and seems to be getting better with age. And Barney is having a great competition with bat and ball and taking the confidence he got from the last couple of championship games into this competition.”
Rhodes’ senior debut came in a List A game for Yorkshire at Glamorgan in May 2013 when the 18-year-old, who batted eight, scored 18 runs and claimed a wicket.
He added: “200 games as a professional? Wow I hadn’t realised that. I think my body feels like I’ve played a few more!
“But look it’s nice to achieve that here at Edgbaston. Ever since I’ve come to Warwickshire I’ve been made to feel really welcome. I just try to put my skills on display for the members, and for the rest of the guys, and hopefully there will be a lot more to come.”
Additional tickets released for West Indies Test
A small number of tickets have been released for the first three days of our Men’s Test against West Indies this summer (26-30 July).
Over 80,000 tickets have been sold across the five days and remaining tickets are expected to go quickly.
Hospitality and Premium Tickets are still available for all days.
