Warwickshire all-rounder Carter insists: Don't write us off.
Jul 1 2010 by Brian Halford, Birmingham Mail
NEIL Carter insists Warwickshire cannot be “written off” in the championship despite them apparently heading for another defeat in their latest game against Durham.
The Bears are struggling again at Chester-le-Street and the impetus needed to end their shocking batting collapse-haunted slump remains elusive.
But Carter points to their strong finishes to the last two campaigns as evidence they can still bounce back. They just need those out-of-form batsmen to fire.
“A lot of people have written us off already,” the all-rounder said. “We are going into pretty much every game as underdogs and people are writing us off.
‘‘But we know we are better than that and if everyone works on their own game and gets the enjoyment factor back in the game there’s no reason why we can’t have a good second half of the season like we did last year.
“This time last year we were pretty much down the pecking order but had a good second half and went into the last game still able to finish second.
“This slump came upon us very quickly. It started in game four and suddenly we had three games pretty much back to back. That can happy in county cricket because you play so many games so quickly but the break was good for us and hopefully now we can rebuild.”
Meanwhile, director of cricket Ashley Giles was encouraged by the resistance of Jim Troughton and Ateeq Javid yesterday after their unbroken stand of 72 kept the Bears in the game against Durham.
Troughton closed unbeaten on 38 while 18-year-old Javid showed great composure to reach a first-class best 30.
“Jim knew the importance of the innings and battled very hard,” Giles said.
“ Ateeq applied himself very well and looked at home”
The Bears still aim to recruit a batsman but will not be able to do so as hoped, before Friday’s T20 with Durham.
n Keith Barker lodged a big claim for a recall by hitting 170 for Warwickshire 2nds against Yorkshire at York.
In reply to the home side’s 367, the Bears closed the second day on 431 for eight.
