Rewind: Warwickshire v Northamptonshire, 2014

Sam Hain will play his 87th County Championship match for Warwickshire when they face Northamptonshire at Edgbaston this week.

tomrawlings

2022-05-10T06:00:00.000Z

Sam Hain will play his 87th County Championship match for Warwickshire when they face Northamptonshire at Edgbaston this week.

The Bears' batting linchpin would certainly settle for a repeat of his fortunes eight years ago when Northants visited Birmingham. Then playing only his 11th championship game, aged just 18, he unfurled his abundant talent with a brilliant maiden double century to set up a Bears win by an innings and 16 runs.

Put in, Northants made 273 against a pretty impressive bowling attack of Chris Woakes, Keith Barker, Olly Hannon-Dalby, Rikki Clarke and Jeetan Patel. The Wizard did not take a first innings but Barker and OHD took four apiece to keep the visitors under par.

The Bears then replied with a moderate 142 for three before Hain went in to join Jonathan Trott at the crease. Few batters can take root more emphatically than those two and they rooted themselves deep to add 360 in 98 overs.

Trott, already well-established as a Test player, scored 164 (312 balls, 20 fours, one six) with a typically uncompromising broad bat, but was matched all the way by his young partner. Hain batted 104 overs for 208 (337 balls, 25 fours, one six) before he was finally bowled by spinner James Middlebrook. He left the field to a standing ovation. 'Hainy' had arrived!

A merry 13-ball 21 from Patel lifted the total to 573 for nine, the only disappointment for the Bears fans being that they did not get to see OHD bat. However, the Yorkshireman was soon bowling again and contributed the wicket of top-scorer Ben Duckett as Northants were bowled out for 284. Barker took another four wickets (match figures of 37.2-5-105-8), Patel three and Woakes two as victory was wrapped up inside three days.

Hain's starring role in 2014 was not the first time, nor the last, that a young Bear has truly announced himself upon the county stage against Northamptonshire at Edgbaston. Four years later, in 2018, Warwickshire won by six wickets thanks to runs and wicket from another 18-year-old, Henry Brookes.

The Bears' first innings was in distress at 169 for eight until Tim Ambrose (78) and Brookes (50) added 95. Brookes had already taken four wickets in the visitors' first innings and a maiden first-class century from Will Rhodes, 100 not out (165 balls) then took Warwickshire to their target of 180.

Frank Foster was a little older than 18 when Northants visited Edgbaston in 1911. He was 21, but already captain. The great all-rounder had just been persuaded to come out of "retirement" (he was a bit temperamental) and take over the captaincy, and was in the process of transforming the Bears from a bit of a shambles in 1910 to County Champions in 1911.

FRF led from the front in every way and the Northants game was a perfect example. In a low-scoring contest, the skipper scored 122 runs and took nine wickets to lead his men to a commanding 211-run win.

The following year, the champions proved it was no fluke. This time they won by 303 runs after Foster (five for 22) and Frank Field (five for 27) bowled Northants out for 53. Look out for the young guns against Northants this week.