Bears start preparations for title defence

By Dave Bracegirdle

Warwickshire’s defence of the LV County Championship title begins this week with the start of intensive pre-season preparations. The Bears fly out to Barbados on Tuesday where their warm weather training will include several days of practice cricket plus participation in the annual T20 Cup competition.

Dougie Brown, Warwickshire’s new director of cricket, will initially have the opportunity of assessing the form and fitness of his charges with a couple of one-day friendlies against a Barbados XI, followed by a two-day fixture against Hampshire at Windward CC.

Over the weekend of 16-17 March the Bears will participate in the Barbados T20 Cup, where they have been drawn to face Derbyshire at the Kensington Oval in the opening round.

Warwickshire then return to the UK two days later, before heading east for the MCC match on 24 March. England’s Ian Bell, Jonathan Trott and Chris Woakes, plus New Zealand’s Jeetan Patel are the only absentees due to their involvement in the forthcoming Test series.

Three new faces in the squad are Oliver Hannon-Dalby, the new ball bowler who has joined from Yorkshire, plus two young batsmen, Freddie Coleman, who has already experienced List A international cricket with Scotland and Sam Hain, a 17-year-old who has played for Australia’s Under-19 side but holds a British passport having been born in Hong Kong.


Date: 03/03/2013 16:16:40 by Dave Bracegirdle
In: Warwickshire | Today |