Recent Match Outline – Lancashire vs Warwickshire Last 2021


Warwickshire 120 for 0 (Yates 69*, Sibley 49*) lead Lancashire 78 (Wood 46*, Miles 5-28, Johal 3-29) by 42 runs

Warwickshire went a long way towards confirming their status as the strongest first-class team in the country with a dominant first-day performance against Lancashire at Lord’s.

Having bowled out Lancashire for just 78 – their third lowest first-class against this opposition in first-class history – Warwickshire surpassed that complete without losing a wicket. By stumps, they had a lead of 42 with all 10 wickets in hand. Coincidentally, the score at the near on the first day used to be identical to that in the Leeds Test between England and India in August.

It probably bears reiterating that this match is not a last. The County Championship crusade ended final week; it is a standalone match for an entirely separate trophy.

But there’s a danger the sort of fixture could muddy the waters relating to judging the finest first-class team in the land. The Bob Willis Trophy used to be an excellent solution to the unique problems confronting the game in 2020 and a fine tribute to a great of the English game. But now? It feels like a weekend guest who has stayed until Tuesday. A schedule creaking with the volume of games truly doesn’t require the sort of match and, judging by the size of the crowd – 928 used to be the official figure – there is not much appetite for it. It sort of feels most unlikely it’s going to be played next year.

So maybe it’s going to aid clarity whether Warwickshire, who clinched the Championship title final week, go on to underline their success. Certainly, they’ve ended the first day in an overwhelmingly strong position having reduced Lancashire to 12 for 6 at one point. While Luke Wood led something of a counterattack with an unbeaten innings of 46, the fact is only four men in the Lancashire side scored a couple of and only Wood scored more than 17.

Some will look at the scorecard and presume this used to be some sort of horror track. And it’s true, there used to be some surprisingly steep bounce from just back of a good length which would have made any sensible batter a little hesitant to prod forward. It can be applicable, too, that only once this year has a team reached 300 in a Championship innings at Lord’s, and even then, the complete used to be a modest 313. This can be a tricky place to bat, no doubt.

But it would be disingenuous to blame the wicket for these types of dismissals. Luke Wells, for instance, missed a straight one; Dane Vilas used to be hit on the boot by a full ball; Alex Davies used to be athletically caught-and-bowled by Craig Miles after an within edge saw the ball balloon off his pad and Josh Bohannon pulled a long-hop to midwicket. You couldn’t blame the pitch for any of that.

It would be mistaken not to credit this Warwickshire attack for another outstanding performance, too. In Miles and Liam Norwell, Warwickshire have a full of life and skilful twosome of opening bowlers – both wooed from Gloucestershire – who have played important roles in their season’s success. Norwell, blessed with sharp pace and an action which has a tendency to angle the ball at the batter but has the ability to move the peculiar one absent – surpassed 50 first-class wickets in the season with another impressive display, while Miles claimed his third first-class five-for of the season.

He bowled very nicely, too. Operating from the Nursey End, he maintained an admirably full and straight line and length and worked on the basis that whether the ball didn’t move, the stumps were in play, and whether it went down the slope, the slips would be. While the caught-and-bowled used to be, he admitted, fairly lucky, he also gained two leg-before dismissals and one clean bowled.

Warwickshire may have been particularly delighted to see the bright start made by Manraj Johal. Whether there’s one cloud on the horizon of their Championship success, it is in the relative shortage of home-grown players and home-grown players of colour, in specific, in their first team. Everyone knows the challenges cricket is facing in this area. In a city such as Birmingham, in specific, the game needs to do more to mirror its native community.

In Johal, a minimum of, apparently Warwickshire have a player who could have a bright future. Bowling at a full of life pace – around 80mph, you would think – the 19-year-old jagged the ball around on a helpful surface, trapping Tom Bailey with one that nipped back at him sharply before Jack Blatherwick fenced at one out of doors off stump. He’s going to bowl to tougher batters on tougher surfaces, no doubt, but Johal looks to have the basic ingredients to carve out a career at this level. It has been, to date, an impressive first-class debut.

Rob Yates made a fluent half-century in Warwickshire’s reply  PA Photos/Getty Images

Possibly the pitch had eased a little by the point Warwickshire began their reply, but Rob Yates hit five of his first 18 balls for four and with Dom Sibley taking a look more self-assured and fluent than he has for some months – he well his first ball through the covers for two and shortly afterwards drove a boundary through point – Warwickshire soon passed the Lancashire complete. With better weather expected on day two – the first used to be curtailed by recurring showers – Warwickshire have an excellent possibility to bat Lancashire out of the match. Their lead means that even supposing it ends in a draw, they’ll lift the trophy.

Lancashire did themselves few favours in the field. Sibley used to be missed on 29, when Davies used to be unable to cling on to an outdoor edge, while Yates used to be dropped at second slip by Rob Jones. Wood used to be the unlucky bowler on both occasions. Lancashire might also have been unlucky not to win a leg-before decision against Yates when he had 47, with Bailey the unfortunate bowler.

“When the scoreboard looks like that, you’ll be able to’t blame it on being unlucky,” Mark Chilton, the Lancashire assistant coach, told ESPNcricinfo afterwards. “There used to be a bit of life in the pitch early on and Warwickshire’s bowlers extracted it very mannered. They put us under pressure and we weren’t in a position to react. It used to be a hard toss to lose, but I do not believe we covered ourselves in glory.

“We couldn’t get the same life out of the pitch – perhaps because of the heavy curler – and we were a bit extraordinary with the ball before tea. But the captain had a couple of stern words at tea and we were much better afterwards. Then we dropped a few catches.”

Provided the lateness of the season and the early starts, Lancashire will have an possibility to claw their way back into the game on the second one morning. But Mark Robinson, who is returning to this ground for the first time since he oversaw England’s women winning the World Cup here in 2017, will be much the happier of the head coaches at this stage.

George Dobell is a senior correspondent at ESPNcricinfo


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