Warwickshire are worthy winners of the Bob Willis Trophy

NICK FRIEND AT LORD'S: If this is the last time it is played for, then the trophy is in the right hands - the best team in the country in 2021, but also Willis' county for more than a decade

Lord's (fourth day of five): Lancashire 78 & 241, Warwickshire 518 - Warwickshire win by an innings and 199 runs

Scorecard

Warwickshire needed just a single session to wrap up a comprehensive win in the Bob Willis Trophy, taking the four remaining wickets to complete a red-ball double at Lord’s and bring the curtain down on a season of interminable length.

Lancashire avoided their heaviest-ever defeat, having entered the fourth morning with that ignominy still a threat, but lost Luke Wood, Rob Jones, Jack Blatherwick and Tom Bailey before lunch as Warwickshire reaffirmed their status as the best team in the country exactly a week after clinching the County Championship title at Edgbaston against Somerset.

There were very different surroundings for the two triumphs: play began on time despite heavy overnight rain but there was nothing like the atmosphere that greeted Warwickshire’s victory charge seven days prior. This game has been fighting against a sense of anti-climax throughout, with little justification for playing a fixture like this so late in the English summer and so soon after a thrilling end to the County Championship. The lack of supporters present backed up that perception.

It was fitting, though, that the county champions were in total charge from the outset, winning the toss and dismissing Lancashire for just 78 midway through the first afternoon, before batting to the close without the loss of a single wicket. By then, the writing was on the wall, with opener Rob Yates and captain Will Rhodes compiling centuries that ensured a 440-run deficit after both sides had batted once. It was, by more than 200 runs, the highest score in domestic red-ball cricket at Lord’s all summer, even if Matt Parkinson twirled away impressively against the tide.

Lancashire fared better when they batted again, with George Balderson – on his first visit to both Lord’s and London – making 65 at the top of the order, only for the collective excellence of Warwickshire’s bowling attack to ensure there was no unlikely turnaround.

Michael Burgess gave the game a high-class ending, tumbling to catch Bailey over his shoulder as he ran back towards fine leg. It might not have earned much of a roar from the assembled smattering, but it typified the precise efficiency of a side for whom no one scored 1,000 runs but instead relied on a wider group of contributors. None of their players made the team of the year, which surprised Rhodes but seemed to emphasise the point of a side for whom everyone has, at some stage, stood up to be counted.

^{Warwickshire won the Bob Willis Trophy a week after winning the County Championship}

With the ball, Liam Norwell passed 50 first-class wickets for the season, while Craig Miles ended his campaign with 43. Danny Briggs, one of the signings of the year, claimed three second-innings scalps to finish with 33 wickets for the summer. It seems remarkable that he only played four first-class games in his final two years at Sussex. Manraj Johal also impressed, making his first-class debut in regal circumstances, turning out for the top side in the land.

It has been an extraordinary effort in a year of apparent transition, having faced the retirements last winter of Ian Bell, Tim Ambrose and Jeetan Patel. But a predominantly young side, with the added experience of Tim Bresnan, has come out the other side in fine style under the tutelage of head coach Mark Robinson and director of cricket Paul Farbrace.

For Lancashire, this was always likely to be a difficult week, given the immense effort of the last fortnight and the array of emotions that went into their final County Championship fixture against Hampshire. The elation of winning that game by just a single wicket at Aigburth in front of a brilliant, partisan crowd was followed by the deflation of Warwickshire’s final-day win that meant they ultimately fell short of the title.

Their side is full of exciting, youthful cricketers: Balderson, Josh Bohannon, Luke Wood, Matt Parkinson and Jack Blatherwick have the makings of a strong spine, even if they will lose Alex Davies to their conquerors here.

What happens next for the Bob Willis Trophy, meanwhile, is anyone’s guess. It is not beyond the realms of possibility that Warwickshire’s next match is for its retention – perhaps against the MCC in the pre-season Champion County match. Alternatively, this match could be played in early April as cricket’s Community Shield or the trophy could become the prize for the winner of the game played on Blue for Bob Day.

It could even be presented to the leading wicket-taker in the County Championship, who this year is Nottinghamshire’s Luke Fletcher, or to England’s Test bowler of the summer. Certainly, it won’t be played in this slot next autumn – an occasion that, for various reasons, hardly felt like a fitting tribute.

^{Michael Burgess ended proceedings with a fine catch}

“I think they are really keen to honour Bob and use the trophy in some way,” Lauren Clark, Willis’ widow, told The Cricketer on Wednesday. “But we have to find something meaningful. I do want to protect Bob’s memory, and I’m very protective of him.” She wasn’t consulted on the format for this year’s showpiece.

She added: “What I don’t like – being protective of Bob – is it constantly being discussed that we might not have it next year.

“We would like to be consulted before they announce the decision on the Bob Willis Trophy final. They might just scrap it altogether. If they want to keep it in circulation, we’d like to discuss how they’re going to do that. We can’t insist that they keep it in circulation, and I’m not massively obsessed with it being in circulation. It has to be the right thing for Bob.”

As it is, Warwickshire are appropriate winners – not only as the team of 2021, who deserved more than three days between winning the County Championship and having to justify that title with this game, but also as Willis’ county for more than a decade. If this is the last time it is played for, then the trophy is in the right hands.