Bears welcome back England all-rounder Chris Woakes to the squad as they look to bounce back to winning ways against Yorkshire Vikings at Edgbaston.
Woakes – who returned early from the IPL and took some time away from cricket following his father’s death – came through a comeback Second XI T20 game at Portland Road on Tuesday (11 June).
The 35-year-old bowled four economical overs, taking one for 21, in the four-wicket win over Gloucestershire.
And First Team Coach Mark Robinson says Woakes – who’s last T20 outing was for Sharjah warriors in the International League T20 in February – is keen to return to first team action.
“Chris is light on cricket but his body’s good, he bowled nicely in the Seconds this week, and he wants to get back playing,” said Robinson.
Woakes replaces Aamir Jamal in a 14-player Bears squad to face the Vikings (7.05pm start) followed by a trip to Derbyshire Falcons on Sunday afternoon.
Yorkshire arrive at Edgbaston in good form having defeated the Falcons by nine wickets last time out – openers Adam Lyth (84) and Dawid Malan (79*) – and lie second in the North Group table with three wins from four.
Robinson said: “It’ll be a tough test…and Yorkshire have a certain Joe Root coming in at three. But we have one of the best bowling line-ups in the competition so it’ll be a good contest and a good spectacle for the crowd.
“Both defeats at Lancashire and against Durham followed a similar pattern. We suffered some big overs, going for 24 and 25 runs. We’ve talked about it with the bowlers, sometimes it’s a mental things, to slow things down. But it’s the nature of T20 cricket, that can happen, you have to ride with the punches.
“We needed more partnerships in both games. Davo and Dan Mousley batted well and put on 79 for the second wicket against Durham, it was a strong foundation, but from there we didn’t get another match-winning partnership.
“Sam Hain has a proven history of winning games, and he’s getting back closer to where he wants to be, but many of the other batters are young and trying to forge reputations. They have high potential, high ceilings all of them.
“T20 cricket is a volatile beast. You have to keep calm keep, maintain belief and work on things that give you the best chance of long term success. We’ve won two, lost two. There’s a whole campaign to develop.”
Squad
Alex Davies (C & WK)Hassan AliEd BarnardChris BenjaminJacob BethellDanny BriggsGeorge GartonRichard GleesonSam HainJake LintottCraig MilesDan MousleyChris WoakesRob Yates
Head-to-Head
Bears have faced the Vikings 21 times the competition and have the upper hand having won 10 - including four of the last five - and lost 7.
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 Live 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 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.
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