Warwickshire's title success a victory for character and resilience

NICK HOWSON AT EDGBASTON: Head coach Mark Robinson and captain Will Rhodes identify the key reason behind the Bears' eighth title success which follows a winless red-ball season in 2020

Warwickshire finish as the pride of the County Championship

Every sports team has at some point in their history been described as achieving success "the hard way". It is an infuriating cliche and betrays the notion that sport is actually an unscripted drama. Elite competition isn't easy, that's the point.

In the case of Warwickshire, however, they've developed an unnatural habit of prevailing in difficult circumstances. For a third time, they have secured the LV=Insurance County Championship with victory on the final match of the campaign and in this case with just 27 overs of the season remaining.

But victory at Northamptonshire in 1911 and Canterbury in 1995, the other two final round successes which delivered silverware, were secured with relative ease compared to the win over Somerset at a sun-soaked Edgbaston.

The Bears had conceded a first-innings lead and had four sessions starting on the third evening to build a lead, declare and take 10 wickets against a Somerset side, albeit with a fragile line-up, who were keen not to be present for another coronation.

Three wickets each for Chris Woakes, available partly due to the cancelled Old Trafford Test, and Craig Miles got the job done with just hours of the regular campaign remaining. And yet, this has been rather typical of a team who have flirted with failure throughout. Perhaps that is why victory tasted so sweet.

They qualified from a group containing defending champions Essex with fewer wins than Gloucestershire and the joint-lowest points. Come the conference stage they looked down and out after drawing with Lancashire and Hampshire.

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They saw the whole of day three wiped out by rain before they overcame Yorkshire and headed into the last round splitting Hants and Lancs with no margin for error. As a scrap unfolded in Liverpool, the Midlanders were clinging on by their fingernails, needing a Danny Briggs onslaught to secure a fourth batting point with 4,4,6 from the 110th over.

Scoring at close to a run-a-ball, Rob Yates, Dom Sibley and Will Rhodes ensured that any light at the end of the tunnel Somerset could sense faded into the distance. Once Briggs and Tim Bresnan combined to get rid of Tom Lammonby before lunch the writing was on the wall and the title was confirmed on either side of final interval.

So often it was a case of pulling success from the jaws of despair. And for a red-ball side who didn't win a game in 2020 and haven't had a single player reach 1,000 runs or 50 wickets, it is a testament to the character which lies deep within.

"I've never said we're the best team, I've never said we're the most perfect team," said head coach Mark Robinson, who returned to the game following four years leading England Women. "We've shown a lot of character. We've beaten Essex and Somerset the best two teams from the last three years.

"I definitely thought there was a loss of confidence and self-belief. It was about trying to get a bit of calmness and belief going. Once you get the momentum you're off and running a little bit.

"We haven't been perfect but we've found ways to turn games around, we've found ways to stay in games and we've had a bit of luck at times.

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"The season has been about character. We've grown in resilience.

"With 27 overs to go on the last day, it is a special way to win a championship and it is good for the game. We've had some tough victories. 

"Sometimes you get moments when you don't expect them and you have to seize them. You don't often get a window to win. In any sport, Man City in the Champions League can't get over the line, the so-called best team. When you have the chance to win you've got to take it."

While Robinson, a world champion in 2017, is a proven winner Rhodes, 26, is only two seasons into his tenure as Warwickshire captain. By his own admission, this is a group defined not by superstars or regularly available international names by malleable cricketers who can perform a number of roles. A possible red-ball double, with the Bob Willis Trophy Final to come next week, now beckons.

"I don't think we've got one individual who is the same player," said Rhodes, who left Yorkshire for Warwickshire at the end of the 2017 term.

"We've got a lot of individuals who bring a lot of things to the team and a couple of x-factors in Stoney and Woakesy. 

"When those guys are around that is nice. Chris was the most pumped out there, the homegrown lad to win something was fantastic."