Preview: Bears Men vs Worcestershire Rapids, Vitality Blast

The Bears are looking to finish this block of fixtures on a high note with a victory over local rivals Worcestershire Rapids.

joshstacey

2025-06-19T17:32:49.000Z

The Bears are looking to finish this block of fixtures on a high note with a victory over local rivals Worcestershire Rapids.

They are fifth in a highly congested table at the halfway stage, with plenty of cricket still to be played.

Reflecting on the block of fixtures, Head Coach Ian Westwood said, “It’s been up and down. We got off to a bad start, but since then, we’ve put in some good performances.

“We’ve lost a couple of really tight games, which is always hard to take. However, it hasn’t affected the mood in the camp, the lads are still full of confidence and know a couple of wins will see us climb the table quickly.”

The Bears' most recent victory came in Headingley when they turned over Yorkshire by 32 runs to make it six in a row against the Vikings.

Tom Latham and Dan Mousley have been particularly impressive with the bat, alongside the all-round quality of Ed Barnard and overseas impact of Hassan Ali.

There’s a chance the Bears could climb into the top four before the break for two rounds of County Championship fixtures, due to their superior net run-rate to those around them.

The Rapids sit sixth in the table, and they’ve had a similar story in the Blast this year, losing four and winning three, with the Bears marginally ahead on net run-rate.

The Rapids won yesterday evening in a close-run fixture against Durham at home, ending a two-game losing streak.

Overseas, Ben Dwarshuis and Jacob Duffy are their leading wicket-takers in the competition (8), and ex-Bear Adam Hose is their leading run scorer (241).

“We’re desperate to put in a good performance tomorrow and get the result. We know we’re playing some good cricket, we just need to do better in some of those key moments.”

“The lads have trained really well these last two days, the mood in the camp is positive, confidence is high, and they’re all up for a good game tomorrow.”

Squad

Alex Davies (c)Hassan AliMoeen AliEd BarnardDanny BriggsGeorge GartonSam HainTom LathamJake LintottCraig MilesDan MousleyHamza ShaikhKai SmithRob Yates

How to follow

Members and supporters can follow the match live in our Match Centre at edgbaston.com, which will include a free-to-watch stream and a live text commentary. You can also see a ball-by-ball feed and watch highlights of all the action.

Supporters can get involved by sending their match-day comments and thoughts on X via @WarwickshireCCC and we’ll publish the best ones on our live text commentary in the Match Centre.

Supporters can also watch the Live Stream and get instant push notifications of all wickets, innings and match results via the Edgbaston app, which is free to download on iOS and Android.

Match updates will also be available across the Club’s social media accounts, simply search for @WarwickshireCCC.