The top two teams in the Vitality Blast North Group face off as the unbeaten Bears travel to Emirates Old Trafford to take on Lancashire Lightning.
Lightning are setting the early pace with two victories from their opening three fixtures – beating Derbyshire Falcons by 57 runs in their latest outing – but Bears travel north high on confidence after two opening weekend wins.
Bowlers have been on top in the competition this season with only four of 42 innings so far topping 200 runs.
And Bears First Team Coach Mark Robinson believes he’s blessed with one of the best bowling attacks in the Blast.
“We’ve got one of the best bowling units in the country,” said Robinson, “with a lot of bases covered, when everyone is fit. We’ve had the luxury of being able to put out an outstanding bowling attack in the first two games and they’ve produced.
“Al Davies has a lot of options. He had two spinners unused in the last game, George Garton only bowled one over. It’s great that our captain has plenty of options if one of the bowlers is put under pressure.
“Aamir Jamal is fully fit again and Craig Miles is back. It’s important to have that depth as with two games in little more than 24 hours we may need to rotate to keep bowlers fresh.
“Hassan Ali is also fine. I know a few fans may have feared the worst when he came off after bowling his last over against Notts but it was just a bit of cramp.”
Fellow seamer Che Simmons has picked up a knee injury and will be out for around four weeks, while Kai Smith broke a bone in his hand playing for the Second XI and could be out for up to six weeks.
England Bear Chris Woakes went public in the week explaining he’d taken some time away from cricket following the death of his father.
Robinson added: “Clearly it’s been a difficult time for Chris and his family. He came home early from the IPL following his father’s passing and quite rightly cricket has been put on hold. The Club has been offering him whatever support he needs.
“He’s recently been in doing a bit of bowling and working his way back to fitness. I’m sure we’ll see him back in a Bears shirt soon once he’s ready. We look forward to welcoming him back.”
Squad
Alex Davies (C & WK)Hassan AliEd BarnardChris BenjaminJacob BethellDanny BriggsGeorge GartonRichard GleesonSam HainJake LintottCraig MilesDan MousleyRob Yates
Head-to-Head
This will be the Bears' 21st match against Lancashire in the competition. We're all square with 8 wins each (3 abandoned and 1 No Result).
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.
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