Warwickshire captain Will Rhodes believes his side’s 100 per cent start to the Metro Bank One Day Cup faces its toughest threat yet when Northamptonshire visit Edgbaston on Friday (18 Aug).
Rhodes’ side has charged through the competition so far with five straight wins to take them to the brink of qualification.
One more win will secure a place in the knockout stage for the first time since 2016 – when the Bears lifted the trophy – and given their superior run rate will likely book a home semi-final on Tuesday 29 August.
The captain is delighted with the form shown by his side, led by the brilliant bowling of Olly Hannon-Dalby who has taken 18 wickets at 9.77 runs apiece.
“It’s great to have won all five so far and particularly pleasing because we’ve had some different challenges along the way,” Rhodes said. “We’ve defended a tight run chase, we’ve chased 250 and we’ve blown a couple of teams away.
“We’ve not been tested massively yet in this competition, but I think that’s testament to the way we are playing. Now next up is Northants, an explosive team that will come at us hard. It will be a big test and we’ll need to show good character and all our skills.
“But there is a really good vibe around the group at the moment with a lot of confidence. We have taken this competition seriously from the start and want to win it.
“We are quite bowler-heavy in this tournament, so we know we probably need 20 or 30 less runs than in previous years with our bowling attack.
“That means there is some responsibility on our top five batters, but they have responded really well. To get Jake Bethell back against Derbyshire, and see him play the way he did on a tricky wicket, was really good.
“We gave given debuts to four players in the five games and you need that strength in depth to win competitions. We’ve not had that in the last couple of years but to have the guys back from The Hundred and then the likes Taz Ali come in and do so well on debut is fantastic.”
Seventeen-year-old Ali steps aside for the visit of Northants – who lie fourth in the table with three wins from five having lost by seven wickets at home to Worcestershire on Wednesday – as First Team Coach Mark Robinson names a 13-player squad.
“Taz did brilliantly on debut,” added Robinson, “bowled with a maturity beyond his years and claimed his first senior wicket.
“But it’s a fresh pitch and for tactical reasons we’re switching things up for this game, plus of course Taz will soon be joining up with the England under-19s squad ahead of their ODIs against Ireland and Australia where I’m sure he’ll go well.”
Henry Brookes and Jake Bethell are both again available for selection.
Squad
Ed BarnardJacob BethellMichael BoothEthan BrookesHenry BrookesMichael BurgessOlly Hannon-DalbyJake LintottCraig MilesWill RhodesHamza ShaikhKai SmithRob Yates
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. Supporters can get involved by sending their match day comments and thoughts on 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.
.png?clxf=t_general_medium)
