What looks to be a play off for a home semi final takes place at Edgbaston
Both sides have won five from five and have one foot in the knock out stages of the One Day Cup. For Warwickshire it has been their skipper Ed Barnard who has led the way, currently at the top of the competition’s run scoring and sits second in the wicket taking. He has scored two big centuries with three low scores in between and opening the batting and bowling has hints of Dan Dare. Warwickshire supporters will be looking nervously at the Hundred as any injuries will surely deprive them of their star player.
At Bristol in their last outing, Barnard, Michael Booth and Tazeem Ali each took three wickets to restrict Gloucestershire to 267 and then 152 not out from Barnard off 134 balls, supported by Hamza Shaikh (37) and Chris Benjamin (45*) saw Warwickshire home with 13 balls to spare. Benjamin has been sharing the wicket keeper duties with Michael Burgess in this competition.
When Barnard has slipped up, Warwickshire have the experience of Will Rhodes, Rob Yates and Michael Burgess to back him up and despite the loss of a number of bowlers to the Hundred, they will be pleased to see the progress of 23-year-old seamer Booth, who has taken nine wickets at 18.8 with an economy of 5.36. The pace attack is completed by the experienced pair of Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Craig Miles, with Rhodes also chipping in and then there is the wrist spin of Jake Lintott and 18-year-old Ali.
After comfortable wins against Essex and Leicestershire in their first two matches, Warwickshire scraped home by one wicket in a low scoring affair against Sussex. They were then pushed all the way against Surrey, who failed by just three runs to chase down a target of 312 and then 152 not out from Barnard took then to a comfortable win against Leicestershire.
Glamorgan were given a scare by Essex’s last wicket pair in their last match before finally triumphing by 32 runs. Sam Northeast returned for this game, having suffered a hamstring injury back in June and was immediately in the runs with 89 out of a score of 283.
Eddie Byrom currently leads the Glamorgan run scoring with 213 at 53.25 after a disappointing start to the season and Colin Ingram has made 153 runs from three starts. Joined by captain, Kiran Carlson Glamorgan have a batting line up to match Warwickshire, but the bowling is more problematic. They have performed well so far, led by Timm van der Gugten who was rested for their last outing against Essex. He forms an opening attack with Jamie McIlroy who has had an excellent start to the competition, taking 10 wickets with an economy of just 3.65. They are backed up by Dan Douthwaite, who leads the competition in wicket taking with 15, although he can be a little expensive. Andy Gorvin has 11 wickets with his medium pace that has proved tricky to get away.
It is in the spin department where Glamorgan are exposed. Off spinning all rounder Ben Kellaway was the county’s top wicket taker in the competition last year and has made a steady start this time round. However, he was injured during the warm up against Essex and did not take the field so there will be some doubt as to when he will return. This leaves the part time off spin of Kiran Carlson and Tom Bevan, who are wicketless so far. If Kellaway is unable to take the field over the next couple of weeks Glamorgan may be hunting around for a stand in.
Glamorgan’s bowlers came to the rescue in their first match against Gloucestershire, removing the last five batters for just three runs, before comfortable wins against Surrey and Nottinghamshire. In their next game against Sussex, the batting faltered chasing down just 201 and it was left to the last wicket pair to get them home.
In this fixture last year a 188 run opening stand between Rob Yates (102) and Ed Barnard (79) helped Warwickshire to 331/7 before Glamorgan’s middle order put up a strong challenge only to fall 24 runs short.
Warwickshire look to have the edge with their stronger bowling unit, but Glamorgan will surely put up a strong fight.
Key players:
Clearly Ed Barnard is the man-of-the-moment for Warwickshire, but Michael Burgess is ever reliable with the bat and gloves. He does not feature in the Blast, but has secured the keeper role from Alex Davies in the Championship, where he has scored 535 runs at 53.50. So far he has not been called upon too much with the bat in this competition, having made 136 runs at 45.33, with a productive strike rate of 104.61, but will be there if needed.
Kiran Carlson has made a slow start to this competition with just 63 runs from five innings, so he is overdue a score. He was Glamorgan’s top run scorer in this year’s Blast with 380 runs at a strike rate of 158.33 and has been steady in the Championship with 618 runs at 41.20, so it can only be a matter of time before he breaks out in the One Day cup. If Kellaway is unavailable, he will also have a role with the ball
Team News
Unneeded players from the Hundred have started to drift back into county sides and so far Richard Gleeson and George Garton have not been utilised by their franchises. It remains to be seen if they will be released.
Warwickshire (probable): Ed Barnard (c),Tazeem Ali, Chris Benjamin, Michael Booth, Michael Burgess (wk), Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Jake Lintott, Craig Miles, Will Rhodes, Hamza Shaikh, Kai Smith, Theo Wylie, Rob Yates
Colin Ingram and Timm van der Gugten will return having been rested for the last game. Kellaway is in doubt following his injury. Ben Morris played in the last match and he will retain his place if one of the other seamers is rested. However given the importance of claiming the top spot, Glamorgan may want to field their strongest eleven.
Glamorgan squad (from): Kiran Carlson (c), Tom Bevan, Eddie Byrom, Dan Douthwaite, Andy Gorvin, Henry Hurle, Colin Ingram, Ben Kellaway, Jamie McIlroy, Ben Morris, Sam Northeast, Tom Norton, Billy Root, Asa Tribe, Will Smale (wk), Timm van der Gugten,
Weather and Conditions
Currently light rain is forecast throughout the day, so interruptions look likely.
This is the first One Day Cup game to be played at Edgbaston this season and given the forecast, the captain winning the toss will likely want to field first.
Date: 8th August 2024
Time: 11:00am
Ground: Edgbaston, Birmingham
