Preview: Warwickshire v Durham, County Championship

Warwickshire have been dealt a double injury blow ahead of the Vitality County Championship visit of Durham with bowlers Michael Booth and Liam Norwell both ruled out for several weeks.

matc

2024-04-11T13:02:18.000Z

Warwickshire have been dealt a double injury blow ahead of the Vitality County Championship visit of Durham with bowlers Michael Booth and Liam Norwell both ruled out for several weeks.

Booth is struggling with a side strain while scans have revealed Norwell – who was back in the red ball squad after missing all of last season – suffered a small tear to a pectoral muscle in the build-up to last week’s Worcestershire derby.

First team Coach Mark Robinson has responded by recalling Craig Miles from his loan at Glamorgan, and also moved swiftly to secure the signing of an overseas bowler to bolster the Bears seam attack.

The Club has agreed terms with the pacer and is awaiting international clearance before announcing the new Edgbaston arrival.

Robinson said: “We’re being tested at the moment. Three weeks ago we had two overseas players in the bag: Hassan’s arrival has been delayed due to changes at the Pakistan Cricket Board, while the other bowler we’d targeted had to pull out after picking up an injury.

“Hassan is due to arrive this weekend. That’s great news and his presence alone will give everyone a boost. He’ll be in contention for our trip to Hampshire next week.

“The injuries have left us light on depth so we’ve worked hard to secure another overseas bowler of international pedigree. He’ll be an exciting addition to the squad and we’ll be pushing for the international clearance to come through soon.

“It’s great we’ve been able to call back Milo. The loan has worked well for us as he was able to play for Glamorgan in that first game, get 20-odd overs under his belt and take a couple of wickets.

“With our Seconds game called off last week, his stint at Glamorgan was far better prep for him so hopefully he’ll be sharp and hungry for more wickets.”

Preview: Warwickshire v Durham, County Championship - Image 2

Durham secured promotion to the County Championship’s top tier for the first time in seven years having claimed the Division Two title last season, losing just one game in the process.

Their opening game of the season at home to Hampshire was washed out without a ball being bowled – but Robinson is well aware of the threat they pose.

He added: “Durham are undoubtedly a good team and will be a stern test. In Scott Boland (Australian international) they have one of the best bowlers in the world alongside England fast bowlers Matthew Potts and Brydon Carse.

“They’ll carry some momentum from last season having been promoted. So it’s a test but also a good opportunity for us and some of our younger players to underline their potential and continue building their reputations.

“We know we’ve got to improve on the Worcestershire performance. We weren’t good enough with the ball as a collective and with the bat we got ourselves into a good position before losing wickets quickly. That should never have happened on that surface and against the Kookaburra ball.

“We’ve got an honest group. We want to get better, the spirit is outstanding, the commitment and togetherness are second to none. But our delivery at key times in the game needs to improve on our last outing and we’ve been working on that.”

Robinson has named a 13-player squad. Sam Hain remains unavailable for personal reasons.

Squad

Ed BarnardChris BenjaminJacob BethellDanny BriggsMichael Burgess (wk)Alex Davies (C)Olly Hannon-DalbyCraig MilesDan MousleyWill RhodesChris RushworthChe SimmonsRob Yates

Head-to-Head

This match will be the 35th First Class fixture between Warwickshire and Durham. Warwickshire and Durham have 12 wins each with 10 matches drawn.

Milestones

Alex Davies requires 105 runs to reach 6,000 career First Class career runs.Alex Davies requires 80 runs to reach 10,000 career runs in all formats.Danny Briggs requires 6 wickets to reach 350 First Class career wickets.Danny Briggs requires 40 runs to reach 1,000 First Class runs for Warwickshire.Craig Miles requires 4 wickets to reach 350 First Class career 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.