The Bear: Barnard left 'almost speechless' by giant win over Glamorgan

Ed Barnard has had to deal with a few challenges in his first season as Warwickshire captain. This week brought another: What do you say to your team in your post-match address after they have put in one of the best performances in the club’s history? The Bear’s Brian Halford reports.

2026-09-11T17:00+01:00

The skipper admits he was left “almost speechless” after The Bears intensified their Championship title push after bowling Glamorgan out for 69 and 65 to win by an innings and 257 runs.

The stunning all-round performance in Cardiff was built around half-centuries from Will Young, Sam Hain and Barnard and five-fors for Ethan Bamber and the captain. And, completed in two days, it earned the team two precious days off in the season’s hectic run-in.

"In the changing-room afterwards, I was almost speechless,” the skipper said. “I didn't really know where to start. You plan games and think about how you want them to go, but I wouldn't have even dreamed of it going that well. It was a very clinical performance and everybody did their job really well.

"The bowling attack has been awesome all year. Every part of it has stood up at different times. On certain days, some guys might take more wickets than others, but in this game it was a real group effort. There was no let-up at any point. The seamers were fantastic and then Manny Suthar didn't have too much to do but he got his three wickets and didn't go for a run.”

The foundation for the victory was laid by Bamber’s first innings five for 28 which took his Championship wicket-tally for the season to 53 (at 22.49). Barnard then rounded off the rout with five for 13 to add to his first innings three for five, for match-figures of 11.1-3-18-8.

"Ethan has been outstanding,” said Barnard. “We were all really pleased for him to get a five-for and also get past the 50 mark. That is a huge achievement, especially in Division One. Hopefully he's got a few more in the bank for the next two weeks. He just seems to be getting better every week.

"I've been speaking to Pop Welch in the last few weeks about how I can take more wickets. My bowling is in as good a place as it's been for a long time and my economy rate has been good but it's always nice to take some wickets. I know my role in the group is to be that fourth or fifth bowler and help the lads out by keeping it tight, but it was nice to get a five-for.”

Thoughts now turn to the visit to Essex next Tuesday with Warwickshire in the thick of a thrilling title race along with Somerset and Nottinghamshire. The Bears will approach the game full of momentum – and with some bonus rest.

"We managed to get an extra day off last week, and two this week and that's crucial at this stage of the season,” said Barnard. “Being where we are in the league, you want everyone fit and firing and available which, touch wood, we have got. We'll rest up for a couple of days then do a little bit of training Sunday and Monday and be ready to go in Essex on Tuesday.

"The dressing room is a really nice place to be at the moment. It's very calm, which is good, and the whole squad is performing well. One thing we would like is a few more hundreds from the group but everyone is contributing with the bat and this week we got 400 with contributions all the way down. All the bowlers are bowling well.

“There's a nice feeling in the group but we know we've got two big weeks ahead of us. We said we wanted to be in contention in the last six games. Now we gave got to the last two and we are still in the mix. Notts and Somerset are playing some pretty good cricket so all we can do is focus on what we're doing and try to win these last two games and see where that takes us.”