Barnard praises complete team performance after scoring ton in Bears win

Ed Barnard praised a complete team performance after he struck a superb 140 on his return to the Warwickshire Bears team as they won by 45 runs against Surrey in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.

2026-07-29T19:15+01:00

Club captain Barnard was released for the game by The Hundred’s Sunrisers Leeds and made an immediate impact after the Bears had been put into bat at Edgbaston Stadium.

His 140 came off 130 balls, and alongside 50s from Zen Malik (58 from 73 balls) and Vansh Jani (66 not out from 45 balls), propelled the hosts to 341 for four from their 50 overs.

“I actually felt a bit scratchy at the start,” Barnard said. “It's been a couple of weeks since I batted, and I couldn't get too many away early.

“We know what the pitch is like here at Edgbaston though, so we knew it was going to be good. If you can get in, I think in 50-over cricket, that middle period when there are only four men out, it can be so hard to defend.

“I thought Zen [Malik] batted beautifully as well in that part of the start, and then Vansh [Jani] and the boys down the order came in and finished it off to get us to a match-winning score.”

In Surrey’s reply, Olly Hannon-Dalby took five for 60 – including the final three of the innings - while 16-year-old Charlie Taylor took his first List A wicket, and George Garton produced one of the run-outs of the year as the Bears sealed their first win of the campaign.

“I thought all the boys did a great job. I'm sure there'll be lots of talk about Charlie [Taylor] again, who's fantastic as a 16-year-old playing like that.

“Olly [Hannon-Dalby] has been doing it for years, Jake Lintott I thought was excellent, and George [Garton] obviously had two magnificent bits of fielding in there which was really important.

“I think we've got to take inspiration from the T20s in terms of how we turned that around. We didn’t quite qualify, but we won six of the last seven, and I think this group can do it.