Bears Pulverise Local Rivals

The Warwickshire Bears kept up their Friends Provident t20 momentum with a crushing nine-wicket victory in the local derby at New Road on Friday night.

The Good Ship Warwickshire kept on sailing on Friday night in the local derby at New Road. Showing the kind of skills, attitude and clinical finishing lacking later in the evening when England drew with Algeria, the Bears brushed aside the challenge of the Royals to go to within one point of table-toppers Notts Outlaws after six of their 16 first round games.

Skipper Jim Troughton lost the toss but it was about the only thing that went wrong all night as Warwickshire, in front of the Sky TV cameras, put on as good a display of Twenty20 cricket as you are likely to see.

Neil Carter got rid of danger man Sanath Jayasuriya – who will be 41 next week – in the very first over and Chris Woakes went one better in his opening six deliveries, snaring both Moeen Ali and Alex Kervezee. A score of 10-3 off just two overs is not the kind of base sides look for in the short form of the game!

Phil Jaques and skipper Daryl Mitchell steadied the ship but with three wickets already down they were loathe to take too many risks. Keith Barker ended Mitchell’s innings thanks to a second catch for returning keeper Tim Ambrose and Imran Tahir compounded the Royals’ misery by immediately getting rid of Phil Jaques, also caught behind.

England under 19 starlet and Sutton Coldfield-born Jack Manuel saw to it that the Royals passed the hundred mark with some positive strokeplay but, despite the threatening clouds, 118 never looked like being enough. Special mention goes to the Bears spin twins Ant Botha and Imran Tahir, who bowled their combined eight overs for just 36 runs.

Unusually for the Bears, Neil Carter fell early but thereafter it was plain sailing for two of Twenty20 cricket’s very best practitioners, Jonathan Trott and Darren Maddy, who cruised to the required total with the minimum of fuss, man of the match Trott registering his 11th T20 half-century in the process and taking his tally in the last three matches to 160 – as good a selector-nudge as anything….

So, unlike England, two more points in the bag, and the Bears are sitting pretty.

Remember you are in with a shout of winning £10,000 if you book your ticket in advance for the local derby rematch at Edgbaston on Friday 16 July. Click here to find out how you can win.