Preview: Lancashire v Warwickshire, County Championship (2022)

Warwickshire face a serious test of their resilience when they visit Lancashire in the LV= Insurance County Championship in Manchester (Thursday 5 - Sunday 8 May).

tomrawlings

2022-05-04T15:55:00.000Z

Warwickshire face a serious test of their resilience when they visit Lancashire in the LV= Insurance County Championship in Manchester (Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 May).

The Bears' perky start to the season was emphatically punctured at Taunton last week when they lost to Somerset by an innings and 82 runs.

The defeat dropped them to seventh in Division One, albeit with a game in hand of six of the nine other teams, and came as a resounding jolt after the previous week's excellent win over Essex.

First team coach Mark Robinson was characteristically honest about the result and performance at Taunton - "No excuses, we were poor."

Now he is looking for the right response from his team at Emirates Old Trafford against a Lancashire side which has started the season strongly with two wins an draw.

"We need to play better, simple as that," he said. "It was nothing to do with any lack of effort or application, it was just that our skills were nowhere near the levels they were against Essex the week before. We were a long way second best with bat and ball, the players know that, and need to improve."

The Bears would certainly settle for a similar outcome to their last red ball meeting with the Red Rose - an innings-and-199-runs victory in the Bob Willis Trophy at Lord's last September. That is just one of a number of intriguing dimensions to what should be a cracking game in Manchester.

"Lancashire are a good team," Robinson said. "They've started well this season and it would be amazing if a little part of their thinking this week is not about the game at Lord's last September. We were lucky to win a very good toss there and then exploited it brilliantly and they will want to come out this week and show they are a good side, which they are.

Warwickshire remain without three injured senior seamers. Liam Norwell has recovered from his concussion injury but is playing some 2nd XI cricket to get some overs under his belt before hopefully returning against Northamptonshire next week. Chris Woakes could also return for that game but Olly Stone remains some way off a first team return in rehab following back surgery.

Batting all-rounder Dan Mousley is ruled out by a broken finger for probably another three weeks.

Squad

Will Rhodes (C)Chris BenjaminDanny BriggsMichael Burgess (WK)Alex DaviesSam HainOlly Hannon-DalbyMatt LambJake LintottNathan McAndrewCraig MilesDom SibleyRob Yates

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