Preview: Warwickshire v Hampshire, LV= Insurance County Championship

Four mouth-watering days beckon at Edgbaston when Warwickshire face Hampshire in pursuit of points to shore up their position at the top of the LV= Insurance County Championship.

With three games left, the Bears have a 4.5 point advantage over a chasing pack headed by Lancashire. If Will Rhodes' side hold their nerve and maintain their quality over the next three weeks, the championship title will come to Edgbaston for only the eighth time - and the first since 2012.

Still to come, Yorkshire away and Somerset at home, but first up a Hampshire team including a very familiar figure...one who was hugely instrumental to the Bears' triumph nine years ago.

Keith Barker took 56 championship wickets at 20.82 apiece that season, forming a deadly new ball partnership with Chris Wright. They were among 359 first class wickets (at 25. 40) that Barker's skilful left-arm swing delivered for the Bears before he joined Hampshire in 2019.

He will return to Birmingham tomorrow as part of a bowling attack which, with Mohammad Abbas available following a period of quarantine, is among the strongest in the country, even without Kyle Abbott who was injured during the draw at Yorkshire last week.

"Keith is a fantastic cricketer," said Rhodes. "When you play against somebody you get a glimpse of what they can do, but when you play alongside them for a year, as I was lucky enough to do with Barks for the Bears in 2018, you really see their qualities.

"He's a superb bowler and part of a very strong attack. Hampshire come at you from all angles and it will be a great test for us and a great game for the spectators - championship cricket at its best.

"We are coming off four tough days at Lancashire where we came away with a strong draw thanks to some excellent individual performances. To win trophies you have to deliver as a team but within that you need individuals to put in standout performances and that's what Sam Hain, Chris Benjamin and Liam Norwell did for us in Manchester."

The Bears have named an unchanged squad for a match from which victory would take them tantalisingly close to lifting the most prestigious prize in English cricket.

"We are top of the table with three games left - that's where you want to be," said Rhodes. "We have three very tough games to come but have played some fantastic red ball cricket this season so if we can maintain those standards we have got a real chance.

"Two wins could do it, maybe even one win and two strong draws, nobody knows because all the other teams are scrapping too. There will be a lot of big games around the country and, of course, you have half an eye on them, but we've just got to concentrate on what we do and keep doing the things that have taken us to the top."

Squad

Rhodes (c), Benjamin, Bresnan, Briggs, Burgess (wk), Hain, Holder, Johal, Lamb, Miles, Norwell, Sibley, Yates.

How to follow

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