For all the champagne that was sprayed around at Lord’s after victory in the Royal London One-Day Cup final on Saturday, Warwickshire know that the success or otherwise of their season will not ultimately be defined until their Division One status is secured.
After their first day with Lancashire at Edgbaston, in what is shaping up to be a straight relegation shootout if Hampshire continue their dominance at home to Durham and win, Ian Bell’s side were left with a growing sense of unease having been bowled out for 219 by a visiting side who then reached 14 for no loss by the close.
The openers Haseeb Hameed and Rob Jones resisted nine overs under lights in which the former was dropped by Rikki Clarke at second slip, an error that left Dougie Brown, the Warwickshire head coach, somewhat frustrated.
“There is no slip catcher that has caught everything but when it’s Rikki and it’s a straightforward one, you do wonder how it’s gone down,” Brown said. “We can’t take what’s happened into day two, though. We have to front up and get the job done. The last thing you want to do is win a trophy and get relegated the following week. We know this is a huge game for us. We are trying to take the pressure off and while it looks very cosy for Lancs, if it comes down to a run chase for them then the situation changes.”
Tom Bailey, who was the standout bowler with figures of four for 52, echoed how tight the situation remains for both sides despite Lancashire’s strong start. He added: “If we lose and Hampshire win, we’re down, so that’s always in the back of your mind. Our goal now is to bat big and bat once.”
That particular target will not be easily achieved on a tacky surface offering lateral movement for the seamers, and which the visitors’ captain Steven Croft decided to make first use of when eschewing the toss. It was Bailey himself who backed up the call immediately, with just the fourth ball of the morning jackknifing Ian Westwood for a simple lbw.
He then ended an experiment that saw Warwickshire’s reserve wicketkeeper Alex Mellor deployed as an opener in the 13th over before Jordan Clark produced a beautiful seaming delivery to see Jonathan Trott caught behind – the first of three in the innings for the right-armer – to leave Bell and Sam Hain needing to rebuild in the afternoon.
Resuming on 83 for three, a near identical session in terms of the numbers followed, however, with one run fewer scored for the loss of another three Warwickshire batsmen as Kyle Jarvis removed Bell lbw for 37 for his 50th wicket of the season before, five balls, later, his slingshot direct-hit from mid-off ran out a dithering Tim Ambrose for a duck.
Hain, whose call it was, top-scored with 52 from 116 balls to atone slightly but it needed Jeetan Patel with 26 from No8 to bring up Warwickshire’s 200 and a single batting point, before Bailey returned to clean up the tail. How Lancashire respond with the bat on day two, having already enjoyed one slice of luck in their reply, will dictate this one.
