Preview: Bears v Falcons, Vitality Blast (2023)

England seamer Chris Woakes is back for the Bears as they look to reverse a two-game Vitality Blast blip at home to Derbyshire Falcons (7 June).

matc

2023-06-06T14:55:00.000Z

England seamer Chris Woakes is back for the Bears as they look to reverse a two-game Vitality Blast blip at home to Derbyshire Falcons on Wednesday (7 June).

Woakes has missed the last four Blast outings having been called up for the England test squad that beat Ireland on Saturday with a day to spare.

The 34-year-old – who missed out at Lords – has been named in the 16-man Ashes squad for the first two games against the Aussies.

But the ECB has given him the all clear to feature against the Falcons as the Bears look to avenge a defeat at Derby five days earlier that ended their 100 per cent start to the competition.

After a gruelling schedule of four Blast games in a week Woakes’ return is welcome news for First Team Coach Mark Robinson.

“It’s been a tough week,” said Robinson, “with four games in a very short space of time, which has been physically demanding so it’s great to welcome back a bowler of Chris’ talent fresh from the national side.

“Woaksey looked very sharp in our two opening Blast games (he took two wickets in the Bears’ T20 opener against Yorkshire Vikings and another at Leicester) and he’ll be keen to maintain his wicket-taking form with an Ashes on the horizon.

Preview: Bears v Falcons, Vitality Blast - Image 2

“When you take a World Cup winner in Woaksey and a proven international bowler in Hassan Ali out of your team it’s going to have an impact. Any team in the world would miss them. It’s fantastic to have Chris back and hopefully Hass will follow soon.”

The Bears are looking to bounce back after two defeats in their last two matches.

Those losses – at the Falcons and last Saturday against Notts Outlaws at Edgbaston – came on the back of four straight wins and Robinson is confident his side has enough match winners to get back on track.

He added: “We’re still feeling confident, we’re a good team, a dangerous team. But we’re not perfect.

“In terms of this competition we’re well placed, we’re second, we’ve won four from six. We’ve had a blip but we’ve had a chance to regroup and are ready to go again.

“So yes, there’s lots to play for and we’re up for an exciting next few weeks.”

Squad

Moeen Ali (c)Ed BarnardChris BenjaminJacob BethellDanny BriggsHenry BrookesAlex DaviesSam HainOlly Hannon-DalbyJake LintottGlenn MaxwellCraig MilesDan MousleyChris WoakesRob Yates

How to follow

Members and supporters can watch the match live with our Bears Den TV live stream which will be available in our Match Centre at edgbaston.com.

The stream will be hosted by comedian and TMS commentator Aatif Nawaz, while commentary will once again be led by Adam Bridge, who will be joined by guests throughout the competition.

Supporters can get involved by sending their match day comments and thoughts on Twitter 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.