Hassan Ali has been released by Pakistan from their IT20 series in England and is available to return to County Championship action at his former club Lancashire.
Ali – who took 25 wickets in five matches for the Red Rose in 2022 – is part of a 14-player squad that’s travelled to Old Trafford as Warwickshire look to bounce back from last week’s defeat at Essex.
The squad includes seamer Craig Miles who’s recovered from the ankle injury he suffered at Surrey, plus Kiwi quick Michael Rae and 20-year-old Che Simmons who both took five wickets on debut at Chelmsford.
Sam Hain – who was withdrawn from the Essex game after being hit on the helmet fielding at short leg – misses the trip as concussion protocol mandates players must sit out for at least seven days.
Chris Benjamin – who’s hit a double-century and a century in recent Second XI games – comes into the squad.
First Team Coach Mark Robinson, said: “The re-introduction of Hassan will be good and he brings a real energy, and Milo is back so it gives us more options.
“Sam feels well and is symptom-free but the regulations stipulate he must have a spell away which is the right thing to do as a precaution after a concussion.
“But it’s important you keep trusting the things you do. For 90 per cent of the Essex game we did a lot right, unfortunately that hour cost us. That can happen against the best teams.
“We need to make sure we extend our best batting periods for longer. The modern game is sometimes quite fast, but the old values of doing simple things for longer are important. When we get into those positions, we need to be more ruthless.
Spinner Danny Briggs also misses out on the trip to Lancashire – who won their first game of the season last time out against Durham – with a finger injury sustained in training.
Pakistan pacer Aamir Jamal remains sidelined with a back niggle, while Michael Booth, Chris Rushworth and Liam Norwell are still recovering from injury.
Squad
Hassan AliEd BarnardChris BenjaminJacob BethellMichael Burgess (WK)Alex Davies (C)Olly Hannon-DalbyJake LintottCraig MilesDan MousleyMichael RaeWill RhodesChe SimmonsRob Yates
Head-to-Head
This match will be the 206th meeting of these two teams in the County Championship. Warwickshire have won 34 and Lancashire 70.
Milestones
BattingMichael Burgess requires 72 runs to reach 4,000 career First Class runs.
FieldingMichael Burgess requires 1 dismissal to reach 200 First Class dismissals (catches and stumped (191/8))
BowlingEd Barnard requires 5 wickets to reach 300 career First Class wicketsOlly Hannon-Dalby requires 4 wickets to reach 350 career First Class wicketsOlly Hannon-Dalby requires 4 wickets to reach 300 First Class wickets for WarwickshireWill Rhodes requires 4 wickets to reach 100 career First Class wickets
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. 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 X (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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