Warwickshire’s pre-season friendly matches confirmed

Warwickshire will kick-start their preparations to retain the County Championship trophy by starting with a two-day friendly against Kent at Canterbury, starting on Monday 21 March.

The Bears will then follow-up with two days against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge (Saturday 26 – Sunday 27 March), a three-day split friendly with Worcestershire at Edgbaston and Portland Road (Monday 28 – Wednesday 30 March) and a final three-day trip to Taunton to face Somerset (Friday 1 – Sunday 3 April).

In total, Mark Robinson will have ten invaluable days of cricket to assess his red-ball side ahead of the opening fixture against Surrey at Edgbaston, which starts on Thursday 7 April.

All four teams the Bears will face were familiar foes in 2021, with three returning to Edgbaston this season in either the County Championship or Vitality Blast, but for Director of Cricket Paul Farbrace that shouldn’t be a problem.

“Even though we’ll face some of those teams throughout the season, you want to play good, strong opposition in the pre-season window,” said Farbrace.

“We played Notts in the pre-season period last year, so that’ll be a strong game at Trent Bridge.

“The Worcestershire fixture at Edgbaston and Portland Road will be great as it enables both sides to play a full squad, over three days at two venues. We’ll try and play it as a first and second-team fixture, but if players need to move from one venue to another then they can as it’s only a few miles away.

“We’ve also got great practice facilities with the Colts Ground and Portland Road – which has a new net area – so both squads can get plenty of practice when they’re not in the middle.

“You’d like to think that everyone, including the professional staff and Academy players, will get plenty of opportunities to impress during the window.”

Details regarding our home friendly against Worcestershire will be announced in due course.