Bears head to Derby looking for back-to-back wins and with an eye on avenging the Blast double Falcons inflicted on them last season.
Mark Robinson’s side lost only three of 14 North Group games in the 2023 campaign, two of those against Derbyshire Falcons.
They came up against an inspired Wayne Madsen at the County Ground on 2 June last year as the 40-year-old hit an unbeaten 71 off 52 balls to cement a 17-run win.
And five days later Bears looked well set for revenge having posted 203/7 at Edgbaston before Falcons’ captain Leus Du Plooy smashed 66 from 25 deliveries for an unlikely successful chase.
Madsen hasn’t enjoyed the same blistering start to 2024 – he’s averaged 27 from five innings – while Du Plooy moved to Middlesex at the end of last summer.
Falcons lie third in the North Group this term having won three and lost three and Bears can leapfrog them if they can follow-up Friday night’s victory over Yorkshire Vikings with another two points.
"We’ve a strong bowling line-up with three international quicks and a good blend of spinners who did most of damage last time against Yorkshire.
“Mous (Dan Mousley) varies his pace really well, Lintott spins it both ways and Briggsy is the Blast’s leading wicket-taker for a reason. So I feel like we have got a lot of options at the minute and we'll just keep searching for that perfect game."
Aamir Jamal is added to the travelling party to the East Midlands, otherwise First Team Coach Mark Robinson picks from the same squad that beat the Vikings.
Squad
Alex Davies (C & WK)Hassan AliEd BarnardChris BenjaminJacob BethellDanny BriggsGeorge GartonRichard GleesonSam HainAamir JamalJake LintottCraig MilesDan MousleyChris WoakesRob Yates
Head-to-Head
It's the 17th meeting between the Bears and Falcons in this competition and it's all square with eight wins apiece. However, Falcons have won four of the last five meetings.
Milestones
Chris Woakes needs nine runs to reach 4,000 runs for Warwickshire across all formats.
.png?clxf=t_general_medium)
