Blast Preview: Falcons v Bears

Chris Woakes is back in the Birmingham Bears squad for the visit to Derbyshire Falcons in the Vitality Blast tomorrow.

The England all-rounder, who was today recalled to the IT20 squad for the series against Sri Lanka starting on June 23, comes into the Bears squad, along with overseas batsman Pieter Malan.

Malan has been drafted in after opener Adam Hose was ruled out by a hamstring injury suffered during the stunning 18-run win over Notts Outlaws yesterday.

With two more internationals on board, the Bears will be looking to take up exactly where they left off after a real powerhouse performance against The Outlaws. They will face the Falcons at Derby fired by a spectacular win over the reigning champions at Trent Bridge where they stacked up their third highest Blast total 229 for five.

It was a stunning collective batting display topped an tailed by explosive contributions from home-gown opener Ed Pollock (62 from 34 balls) and overseas all-rounder Carlos Brathwaite (44 from 18).

Disciplined bowling and fielding then closed the game out solidly to clinch a brilliant win and it was an all-round display which the Bears will be looking to replicate at Derby, says Pollock.

"It was great fun and that has been the message this year. to go out there and enjoy it," he said. "Now we'll rest up on Saturday and go again at Derby and hopefully keep building that momentum.

"We've got seven games in ten days so if we can get ourselves on a roll in that time we can make great headway towards making it into those quarter-finals.

"There is a lot more I can do, I think I left a hundred out there at Notts, but it was a nice start to the competition."

His job done at the top of the order, Pollock then watched and enjoyed with the rest as Brathwaite late cameo turned a strong score into an impregnable one - a record T20 total at Trent Bridge.

But, revealed Pollock even before the Bears reached the ground in Nottingham, Brathwaite had started sowing the seeds of a successful raid on Trent Bridge.

"In the hotel the night before, Carlos came up to me and said 'I've been watching you bat, you're in good form, stop trying to knock it around, just go out and whack it. That's what the coach has been saying as well and it was just what I needed to hear.

"The Carlos's innings was just remarkable. He played in some of the 2nd XI T20 warm-ups and hit a couple of the biggest sixes I've ever seen in my life. It's an absolute missile when it goes off his bat and it's brilliant for us to have that firepower in the middle order."

Having banked their third highest T20 total on Friday, the Bears next face the opposition against who their highest ever was recorded. In 2015, Derbyshire were on the receiving end when the Bears piled up 242 at Edgbaston.

Brendon McCullum's unbeaten 158 (64 balls) that day remains the highest T20 score by a Bear against Derbyshire or anyone else. The best bowling by a Bear against the Falcons is Grant Elliott's four for 37 at Edgbaston in 2017.

Squad

Will Rhodes (C), Carlos Brathwaite, Tim Bresnan, Danny Briggs, Ethan Brookes, Michael Burgess, Sam Hain, Olly Hannon-Dalby, Jake Lintott, Pieter Malan, Craig Miles, Dan Mousley, Ed Pollock, Chris Woakes

How to follow

Warwickshire Members and supporters will be able to follow all the action via the Match Centre on edgbaston.com and through the Edgbaston app (available for free on iOS and Android).