Preview: Warwickshire v Hampshire, County Championship (2022)

First team coach Mark Robinson admits that Warwickshire "need a lot to go our way" if they are to avoid relegation from the LV=Insurance County Championship Division One this week.

matc

2022-09-25T19:04:01.000Z

First team coach Mark Robinson admits that Warwickshire "need a lot to go our way" if they are to avoid relegation from the LV= Insurance County Championship Division One this week.

Bears face Hampshire at Edgbaston in their final game of the season tomorrow placed ninth in the table and in a bleak position. In theory they can overhaul Kent (14 points away and Yorkshire 15) but need either of those teams to collect almost no points from their matches against Somerset and Gloucestershire respectively. And, first and foremost, of course, the Bears must win.

If the pieces do fall into place it would constitute one of county cricket's great escapes, comparable to that which the Bears pulled off in 2010 under the captaincy of Ian Westwood. But at the end of a season which has brought more than its share of misfortune, they will be without both India stars: fast bowler Mohammed Siraj has returned home for personal reasons and all-rounder Jayant Yadav has left following his call up by his national set-up.

What a contrast in every way to 12 months ago when the Bears were preparing to face Somerset in their final game on the brink of winning the title. The reasons behind the plummet in fortunes will no doubt be pondered at length at Edgbaston and beyond in the months ahead but it shows, above all, how incredibly cyclical sport can be. As a very wise man in a Warwick garage mused this week, when appraised of recent events at Edgbaston: "That's sport innit?"

Hampshire will arrive in Birmingham for the 165th championship meeting between the sides also in less than buoyant mood after their title aspirations imploded against Kent last week.

All the Bears can do, insists Robinson, is keep going and 'keep believing.'

"We need a lot to go our way," the coach said. "We need nicks to carry and decisions to go our way and then results to fall our way elsewhere, so we’re realistic to what is needed.

"But equally we plan to win and prepare to win. It’s all we can do. You have to keep believing and doing the right things.

"We have lost Jayant as well as he’s gone to play for India, so that’s a blow. We found that out before the Gloucestershire game that he would be going so whatever happened there he was travelling back, but you soldier on, don’t you?

"There are certainly things we can do a lot better and we’ve got to improve those, but at the moment there’s a week of this season to go so we will focus fully on that."

Squad

Will Rhodes (C)Jacob BethellDanny BriggsHenry BrookesAlex Davies (WK)George GarrettSam HainOlly Hannon-DalbyDan MousleyLiam NorwellDom SibleyRyan SidebottomRob Yates

Michael Burgess continues to be unavailable with Alex Davies taking over the gloves.

Craig Miles is troubled by a sore hamstring and misses out whilst Chris Woakes and Olly Stone remain on England duty for the Pakistan series.

Adam Hose flew out last week to play in the CPL for St Lucia Kings as a late replacement for Tim David.

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.