Preview: Warwickshire v Northamptonshire, County Championship

Australian paceman Nathan McAndrew will make his home debut when Warwickshire face Northamptonshire at Edgbaston in the LV= Insurance County Championship tomorrow (Thursday 12 - Sunday 15 May).

tomrawlings

2022-05-11T15:56:00.000Z

Australian paceman Nathan McAndrew will make his home debut when Warwickshire face Northamptonshire at Edgbaston in the LV= Insurance County Championship tomorrow (Thursday 12 - Sunday 15 May).

A solid draw against Lancashire at Emirates Old Trafford last week righted the Bears' ship after the surprise heavy defeat at Somerset and left Will Rhodes's side sixth in Division One with a game in hand on three of the five teams above them.

A highlight of the match in Manchester was McAndrew's first wickets for the Bears. His four-wicket burst applied a crucial brake to Lancashire's innings and prevented them piling up a decisive first innings lead.

In only his second game for the Bears, it was a timely sign that McAndrew is settling into English conditions - and especially welcome in light of the continued absence of injured England pair Chris Woakes and Olly Stone.

It was hoped that Woakes would return for the Somerset game two weeks ago, but a niggling knee problem continues to keep him out. Stone has played some Second XI cricket but principally as a batsman and is some way off a first team return.

With McAndrew starting to fire, however, and Liam Norwell back in the squad after his concussion injury, Rhodes has confidence in the attack at his disposal.

"It's great to have Liam Norwell back in the squad too, fully over his concussion and with plenty of 2nd XI overs under his belt from the last week. Nath, Olly Hannon-Dalby and Craig Miles all put in serious shifts at Old Trafford so if any of them does make way against Northants it will be for a well-deserved rest.

"Overall it was a good performance against Lancashire. It is a tough place to go and not many teams leave there with much, so to come away with 13 points from a draw was very pleasing."

The Bears now face a Northamptonshire side perceived as one of the less strong sides in Division One but which has acquitted itself well so far this season. They sit one place and ten points below the Bears.

"They are a very useful team," said Rhodes. "They have had a couple of good draws away to difficult sides and have a lot of good players who maybe tend to pass a little bit under the radar. Luke Procter is having a fantastic season and Ben Sanderson is one of the best seamers on the county circuit.

"We know we will have to play well but we know Edgbaston well and have a game plan which has worked well for us."

Squad

Will Rhodes (C)Chris BenjaminDanny BriggsMichael Burgess (WK)Alex DaviesSam HainOlly Hannon-DalbyMatt LambNathan McAndrew Craig 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. You will need to log-in to you My Edgbaston account to watch.

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.