Preview: Warwickshire v Lancashire, County Championship

Rhodes "hungry to get going" after new deal

Will Rhodes wants his Warwickshire team to seize the initiative early when they return to LV= Insurance County Championship action on Sunday against Lancashire at Edgbaston.

matc

2022-06-11T15:58:00.000Z

Will Rhodes wants his Warwickshire team to seize the initiative early when they return to LV= Insurance County Championship action on Sunday against Lancashire at Edgbaston.

The Bears break off from their vibrant Vitality Blast campaign to resume the defence of their Championship title against the in-form Red Rose.

After a surfeit of early-season draws, the Championship Division One table is very tight with the Bears in sixth place but just 32 points behind leaders Surrey. Lancashire sit fourth, 14 points better off than the Bears.

In terms of the title race, it's absolutely all still to play for and captain Rhodes knows that his team can make significant strides forward with good results in the next two games, at home to Lancashire and then away to Northamptonshire (June 26-29).

"The fixtures always come with some quirks and this is one we are used to with some red ball cricket among the T20s," the skipper said. "These two games give us a real chance to assert ourselves in the Division One table.

"That's something we spoke about after the last Championship game, at Yorkshire, and we know we need to get on the front foot in games sooner.

"The table is still very tight and in the next five games we play three of the teams above us so that gives us a great chance to take points off them. Some of the teams above us also play each other during that block of games so if we play our best cricket we can go into the last part of the season in a very strong position.

"First up its Lancashire who are a very fine side but could be missing some players so we have got to capitalise on that."

Preview: Warwickshire v Lancashire, County Championship

The Bears will also again be missing key players - England pair Chris Woakes and Olly Stone - but welcome back pace spearhead Liam Norwell after his injuries.

"Liam has trained well this week and it's great to have him back in the squad," he said. "He is a big player for us and the likes of Olly Hannon-Dalby have had a bit of a break so that won't have done them any harm at all.

"Unfortunately, we're still without Woakesy and Stoney. Olly has shaped up really well for us in the T20s but, after quite a long injury break, we don't want to ask too much of him too soon. If we get the balance right now, hopefully he will play some championship cricket this season."

All-rounder Nathan McAndrew is unavailable having been called up to the Australia A squad in Sri Lanka. The 28-year-old is expected to return for the County Championship fixture against Northamptonshire at the County Ground starting on Sunday 26 June.

Squad

Will Rhodes (C)Chris BenjaminDanny BriggsHenry BrookesMichael Burgess (WK)Alex DaviesSam HainOlly Hannon-DalbyMatt LambCraig MilesLiam NorwellDom SibleyRob Yates

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.