First-team coach Jim Troughton expects his team to “bounce back hard” when Warwickshire launch their home Specsavers County Championship season against Yorkshire at Edgbaston tomorrow.
Both sides are smarting from defeats in the opening round of matches. While the Bears were beaten by Surrey by an innings and one run at The Oval, Yorkshire suffered a surprise four-wicket reverse against Hampshire in Leeds.
We know what went wrong for us at The Oval. We played a very good side at the top of their form but effectively gave them a two-day head start. Of course you can’t afford to do that.
Jim Troughton
In what promises to be the tightest championship Division One ever, a poor start could prove very costly. So, over the next four days, both sides, stung by those opening defeats have an extra incentive to add to those which always accompany the meetings of the two famous old rivals.
“I’m sure both sides will be saying the same thing about the other,” said Troughton. “Both had a disappointing result to start the season with and will be champing at the bit to put things right.
“We know what went wrong for us at The Oval. We played a very good side at the top of their form but effectively gave them a two-day head start. Of course you can’t afford to do that.
“We had hit back really well with the ball to get them all out for 450 after they were 400 for five, but then ran into Mark Footitt’s spell and to lose five batsmen for ducks in about ten overs is pretty exceptional.
“But we’ve got a lot of experience and quality in the dressing-room. These guys have been through that sort of thing before and bounced back hard and that’s what we’ll be looking to do against Yorkshire.
“We will select from a squad of 13 that we took down to The Kia Oval and the guys can’t wait for the game to arrive. They really can’t wait.”
Yorkshire will arrive at Edgbaston under recently-appointed captain Gary Ballance who believes that their defeat to Hampshire last week just illustrated just how competitive the championship First Division will be this season.
“It was probably just the last four sessions where Hampshire were better than us, ” Ballance said. “We played some good cricket but to win games in this division you’ve got to play good cricket for the whole game. You can’t have a bad session or a bad hour.”
The White Rose will be aiming to extend an strong recent record at Edgbaston where they have won three of their last four championship matches, including two by an innings in 2013 and 2014.
“Warwickshire are a very good side,” Ballance said. “They’ve got some very good players, some current and ex-internationals. We know it’s going to be tough, but we’ve played well against them in the last few years, so hopefully we can do that again.”
Warwickshire have announced a squad of 13 for the game with Yorkshire at Edgbaston.
- Ian Bell (Captain)
- Tim Ambrose (Wicket-Keeper)
- Keith Barker
- Rikki Clarke
- Sam Hain
- Oliver Hannon-Dalby
- Alex Mellor (Wicket-Keeper)
- Jeetan Patel
- William Porterfield
- Sunny Singh
- Grant Thornton
- Jonathan Trott
- Chris Wright
Tickets – Warwickshire v Yorkshire
Tickets for Warwickshire v Yorkshire are available at £15 for Adults for each day of play, and are available to purchase on the gate.
Spectators under the age of 16 go FREE at all times.
Gates open at 10am on each day of play.
