Preview: Glamorgan v Warwickshire, Metro Bank One Day Cup

Warwickshire travel to Neath in South Wales seeking a third straight win to what has been a hugely encouraging start to their Metro Bank One Day Cup bid.

briggford

2023-08-09T15:04:40.000Z

Warwickshire travel to Neath in South Wales seeking a third straight win to what has been a hugely encouraging start to their Metro Bank One Day Cup bid.

Convincing wins at Somerset and at home to Gloucestershire – the latter by eight wickets having skittled the visitors for just 120 – put the Bears top of Group B despite having played a game less than their nearest rivals.

First Team Coach Mark Robinson is forced to shuffle his bowling options for the trip to Glamorgan – a match being played at Neath Cricket Club – with spinner Danny Briggs returning to The Hundred.

That means a possible first senior start for 22-year-old seamer Michael Booth – who played in the same Durham University side as Chris Benjamin and has played T20 cricket in South Africa – who signed a rookie contract with the Club for the 50-over competition.

“We obviously want to win the competition,” said Robinson, “but we also want to use it as an opportunity to give valuable experience to players like Hamza, Kai and Boothy. We want to get Michael into the team, playing, and give him an opportunity to show what he can do.

“These lads and others have been in practising this week because the flip side of any comprehensive win means several players don’t get game time. So we’ve laid on some sessions for them to stay sharp.

“We travel to Glamorgan with high hopes. Our two wins have been good, but we have to admit they were good tosses to win and we’ve taken advantage. It was a tad damp at the start against Gloucestershire and that was exploited brilliantly by Olly and Barney.

“We haven’t really been put under too much pressure so far – maybe a little when we lost quick wickets at Taunton before Ed and Hamza steadied the innings – because we’ve managed to be so destructive with our bowling in the powerplays.

Glamorgan come into the game on the back of a seven-wicket win at Derbyshire on Sunday (Colin Ingram 115*) but previously fell to a four-wicket loss at Worcestershire having posted a total of 199.

It’s the first time a Warwickshire side has played senior cricket at the Neath ground and Robinson said he’s looking forward to the occasion.

He added: “I love playing at out grounds. These types of matches were far more common in my playing days.

“It helps you connect with communities, we’ll be close to the crowd, players can interact with them, and a crowd of 800 or so can feel like 10,000 as they’ll be on top of you.

“It’ll be a good day – assuming the weather plays ball – and the players are looking forward to the occasion. It takes cricket to other parts of the counties that otherwise wouldn’t get to see the players up close. That has to be good for the game.”

Squad

Ed BarnardMichael BoothEthan BrookesMichael BurgessGeorge GarrettOlly Hannon-DalbyJake LintottCraig MilesWill RhodesHamza ShaikhKai SmithTheo WylieRob 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 Live Stream, with BBC commentary, and a live text commentary.

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.