Preview: Surrey v Warwickshire, County Championship (2022)

ce Surrey at the Kia Oval in the LV= Insurance County Championship with a seam attack boosted by the return of Liam Norwell and Nathan McAndrew and the loan signing of Brad Wheal.

matc

2022-07-24T16:55:00.000Z

Warwickshire will face Surrey at the Kia Oval in the LV= Insurance County Championship with a seam attack boosted by the return of Liam Norwell and Nathan McAndrew and the loan signing of Brad Wheal.

With Olly Stone's intended return scuppered by a broken finger sustained with the Second XI, the Bears have recruited Wheal on a short-term loan from Hampshire.

The 25-year-old, who has taken 104 wickets at 32.93 apiece and is a member of the best seam attack in the country at the Ageas Bowl, will play just the one match for Warwickshire as cover, in light of Stone's injury.

The return of Norwell after a back injury and McAndrew, who missed last's week's game against Kent through illness, seriously fleshes out a seam attack which, Olly Hannon-Dalby apart, has lacked potency this season.

"Our batting group has been under pressure all year because we haven't been able to get 20 wickets," said First Team Coach Mark Robinson. "Most of the time our batters have got us out of jail but in the last couple of games, with the quality of the opposition, they haven't been able to repel it.

"It's time to do something different and freshen things up. Brad is a quality bowler who is only not in the Hampshire team because of the exceptional quality they have in the seam department. He will give us a good option and it's great to have Liam and Nathan back in the mix again."

Successive defeats, away to Hampshire and at home to Kent, have dropped the Bears dangerously close to the bottom two of Division One and they will need to be strong this week against top-of-the-table Surrey.

It is a testing time for all at the Club - players, coaches, supporters, staff - after the joy of the trophy double last year.

"Cricket has a history of fluctuations like that," said Robinson. "Teams who are dominant generally have one or two players who are the point of difference. Otherwise there's not a lot between a lot of the teams and sometimes it comes down to who's fit.

"This year we should have had four games from Woakesy, Stoney should have played quite a lot more and Liam's been out. Tim Bresnan's departure left a hole that we haven't been able to fill, though hopefully next year Ed Barnard will do that.

"All that has left us vulnerable. The league table doesn't lie and what's happening doesn't lie but what people can't see behind the scenes is all the thought and the effort that goes in and the hurt the players are feeling. They care, they are working blooming hard and they want to get back to where we all want them to be."

Among the batters, Rob Yates remains out of the squad for now, but the 22-year-old's form is returning, says Robinson.

"Yatesy will come back into the red ball reckoning after the 50-over tournament. He is working hard technically and starting to get back to where he was. He got a red ball score for the 2nds last week and is starting to look like his old self which is great for him and for us."

Squad

Will Rhodes (C)Chris Benjamin Danny BriggsHenry BrookesMichael Burgess (WK)Alex Davies Sam HainOlly Hannon-Dalby Nathan McAndrew Dan Mousley Liam NorwellDom SibleyBrad Wheal

How to Follow

Members and supporters can follow the match live in our new-look 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 to matchday@edgbaston.com, 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.