Warwickshire Cricket Club: Batsmen need to find their form
WARWICKSHIRE’S batsmen need to find their form when the Bears start a championship match against Hampshire at Edgbaston tomorrow.
After launching their season with successive four-day defeats against Yorkshire and Lancashire the Bears badly need to bounce back against a Hampshire side which has begun in similar fashion with back-to-back defeats to Essex and Durham.
The visitors start tomorrow just above Warwickshire in the Division One table due to their bonus points tally.
Of most concern, from two games the Bears have collected only three batting points, fewer than anyone else in the division – and that’s with Ian Bell and Jonathan Trott on board.
Obstructing their path towards bigger totals over the next four days will be former Worcestershire fast bowler Kabir Ali. The 29-year-old was a target for Warwickshire last season, when he made it clear he did not want to fulfil his contract at New Road but their approach got nowhere as Hampshire moved swiftly to secure him.
Kabir has started well for his new county and bagged his first five-for against Durham at Chester-le-Street last week. Warwickshire, meanwhile, will hope for wickets from spin-bowler Imran Tahir who was a Hampshire player last time these teams met.
Tahir will be aiming to harvest figures considerably better than the 28-0-91-0 he bagged in the championship game at The Rose Bowl last summer when Trott and Chris Woakes filled their boots with 184 and 131 respectively in an unbroken eighth-wicket partnership of 222.
