Preview: Yorkshire v Warwickshire, County Championship

Will Rhodes will call for "one last big effort" from his bowlers when Warwickshire face Yorkshire at Headingley tomorrow in the concluding game of the opening block of the LV= Insurance County Championship.

tomrawlings

2022-05-18T15:56:00.000Z

The Bears sit fifth in Division One, one place and 14 points behind Yorkshire. The White Rose have drawn four of their five matches while the Bears have drawn three of five, in keeping with the trend this season which has seen a surfeit of draws as runs flow on batter-friendly early-season pitches.

Even before the end of May, the bowlers have done plenty of hard yards. That was the case not least when Bears played Northamptonshire last week and just ten wickets fell while 1,165 runs were scored with Sam Hain, Rhodes and Matt Lamb filling their boots on the last two days and giving their team-mates some welcome rest.

"The bowlers have had some long shifts in the last few weeks," said captain Rhodes. "But they got a couple of days off when we were batting in the last game, so that helped. Olly Hannon-Dalby, Craig Miles and Nathan McAndrew didn't put their whites on for two days which was nice.

"T20 is just round the corner so they will get some rest and rotation in that. We just need one last big effort from them at Headingley. I know they will relish the opportunity there because it usually seams on days one and two, then hopefully Briggsy will come into the game.

"Yes, we won the championship last year, but we know there are still a lot of things we need to improve upon and are working very hard to do that."

Rhodes will lead the Bears against his former county bolstered by his fluent 99 against Northamptonshire, a welcome return to runs for the skipper.

"It is always tough when you are out of form," he said. "It has been frustrating because I feel I've been striking the ball nicely in the nets, but then you get into games and have a couple of unlucky dismissals and a couple of bad errors and suddenly you're four games in with only 70 runs.

"It was pleasing to get some against Northamptonshire. I had some luck just after lunch on day three when I was dropped a couple of times but sometimes you need that. Sam Hain is a fantastic partner to bat with and it was nice to put on some good runs."

Warwickshire will arrive in Leeds still without the injured Liam Norwell, who has a sore back, Chris Woakes, Olly Stone and Dan Mousley. Henry Brookes and Chris Benjamin join the 11 who played against Northamptonshire in the squad.

Squad

Will Rhodes (captain)Chris BenjaminDanny BriggsHenry BrookesMichael BurgessAlex DaviesSam HainOlly Hannon-DalbyMatt LambNathan McAndrewCraig MilesDom SibleyRob Yates

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