Preview: Essex v Warwickshire, One Day Cup

Ed Barnard is set to captain Warwickshire for the first time as the Bears get their Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign underway at Essex.

briggford

2024-07-23T15:18:20.000Z

Ed Barnard is set to captain Warwickshire for the first time as the Bears get their Metro Bank One Day Cup campaign underway at Essex.

Barnard had a stunning 50-over campaign last year, opening the batting and bowling, and topping the tournament’s run charts with 616 runs (ave 77.00) in nine matches.

And he looked in fine fettle on Sunday in Warwickshire’s 50-over warm-up game against Staffordshire when he smashed 143 runs from just 113 balls.

Warwickshire take a strong squad to Chelmsford with Olly Hannon-Dalby – the One Day Cup’s top wicket taker in 2023 with 24 scalps – Michael Burgess, Will Rhodes and Rob Yates all expected to feature.

But it’s also an opportunity for teenagers Hamza Shaikh – fresh from his England Under-19 Youth Test captaincy – Taz Ali, Che Simmons, Kai Smith and Theo Wylie to gain valuable first team experience.

Warwickshire First Team Coach Mark Robinson, said: “Barny is an outstanding player. He had a great competition last year. He’s Vice Captain to Al Davies in the County Championship and this is a good opportunity for him to broaden his captaincy experience

“Rob Yates will back him up as Vice Captain in the One Day Cup but there are lots of experienced guys in the line-up.

“But we have other goals as well, giving the young guys experience, keeping players fresh and ready for four-day games at the end of August, and giving players coming back from injury, like Chris Rushworth, some match sharpness.

“The 50-over is a great competition, I love it. It allows you to get close to your members and that’ll be the case even more this year when we visit Rugby School for three games.

“It has a bit of everything: an element of Championship cricket, a bit of T20 cricket at the death, and the intelligence you need in the middle. We can’t wait to get started.!

Robinson has named a 12-man squad for the opening game.

Kai Smith is to be given more time to recover from his broken hand having missed six weeks of cricket, while Che Simmons is ill.

Squad

T AliBarnard (C)BenjaminBoothBurgessHannon-DalbyLintottMilesRhodesShaikhWylieYates

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.