Warwickshire County Cricket Club

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Warwickshire County Cricket Club
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One-day name: Warwickshire Bears
Twenty20 name: Birmingham Bears
Captain: Varun Chopra
Coach: Dougie Brown
Overseas player(s): Jeetan Patel
Founded: 1882
Home ground: Edgbaston
Capacity: 25,000
First-class debut: Nottinghamshire
in 1894
at Trent Bridge
Championship wins: 7
Pro40 wins: 4
FP Trophy wins: 5
Twenty20 Cup wins: 1 (2014)
Official website: Edgbaston.com
2015 season

Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen major county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Warwickshire. Its 50 overs team is called the Warwickshire Bears and its T20 team the Birmingham Bears. Founded in 1882, the club held minor status until it was classified as an unofficial first-class team by substantial sources in 1894;[1][2] classified as an official first-class team from 1895 by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the County Championship clubs;[3] classified as a List A team since the beginning of limited overs cricket in 1963;[4] and classified as a major Twenty20 team since 2003.[5] Warwickshire's kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor is Gullivers Sports Travel. The club's home is Edgbaston Cricket Ground in south Birmingham, which regularly hosts Test and One Day International matches.

Honours

First XI honours

Division Two (1) – 2008
Division Two (1) – 2009

Second XI honours

Earliest cricket

Cricket may have reached Warwickshire by the end of the 17th century. The Warwickshire & Staffordshire Journal was certainly aware of the sport in 1738 for it carried a report of a London v Mitcham game at the Artillery Ground on 11 August (London won by 1 wicket).

The earliest confirmed reference to cricket in the county is a match announcement in Aris’ Gazette on 15 July 1751.

There was a prominent club in Coventry towards the end of the 18th century which played two well-documented matches against Leicester in 1787 and 1788. Reports of both games are included in Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket by G. B. Buckley. Leicester won both games by 45 and 28 runs respectively.

Club history

Warwickshire CCC was officially founded on 8 April 1882 at a meeting in The Regent Hotel, Leamington Spa. The club developed so well that by the time of the first official County Championship in 1890 it was playing some of the top first-class counties such as Surrey and Yorkshire. Warwickshire became first-class themselves in 1894 and surprised the cricket world with wins over Surrey at The Oval and Nottinghamshire. They competed in the County Championship from 1895 but despite being strong in batting, their bowling was, until the arrival of Sam Hargreave and Frank Field in 1899, very weak. From 1900 to 1906 they were strong enough to be in the upper-middle reaches of the table, but the decline of their bowling from 1907 returned them to the lower reaches of the table late in that decade.

Frank Foster, who first played as an amateur left arm pace bowler in 1908 but improved greatly in 1910 as a result of slowing his pace to gain accuracy, still stands as Warwickshire's greatest all-rounder. In 1911 he headed both batting and bowling averages and, along with a fully fit Frank Field, enabled Warwickshire to take the Championship from the "Big Six"[6] for the only time between 1890 and 1935. Foster and Field took between then 238 wickets, but in Wisden nobody doubted that Warwickshire's win was largely caused by an abnormally dry summer, and the following three years saw them return to mid-table although Foster in 1914 displayed all-round form equal to that of 1911.

In 1919, with Foster having had an accident that ended his short career, Warwickshire fell to last in the table. They did not improve a great deal until the 1930s when Bob Wyatt's captaincy and the bowling of Mayer, Paine and Hollies moved them to fourth in 1934, but as Paine rapidly declined, they fell away. When Wyatt left for Worcestershire after World War II, they declined even further despite Hollies' wonderful bowling in 1946 – with no support at all, he took 175 wickets for only 15 each. The acquisition of New Zealand speedster Tom Pritchard gave Hollies the necessary support and by 1948 they had one of the strongest attacks in county cricket. It was this bowling power, along with effective if not wonderful batting, that gave them the Championship in 1951. However, as with 1911, they fell off rapidly as their batting became unreliable over the rest of the decade. After Hollies' retirement in 1957, there were some very poor seasons (though they came fourth in 1959 due to Mike Smith's superb batting) until Tom Cartwright emerged as a top-class seam bowler in 1962. The county came second in 1964, but did not establish itself at the top until the late 1960s. In 1971 Lance Gibbs' magnificent bowling enabled them to come second, whilst brilliant batting gave them a clear Championship win in 1972.

Yet again, though, a Championship win was followed by a decline and the next twenty years saw the county almost always in the lower half of the table. In 1981 and 1982, with Bob Willis doing nothing for them whilst producing match-winning form for England, they averaged over 45 runs for each wicket they took – still a record. Only under the coaching of Bob Woolmer and captaincy of Dermot Reeve (with their allowed foreign player being one of Brian Lara, Shaun Pollock or Allan Donald) did the team become consistently successful. Although they had won the NatWest Trophy in 1989, it was their astonishing victory in the same competition in 1993, overhauling a record score posted by Sussex in the final, which launched their most dominant period in English cricket. In 1994 they secured a historic treble, winning the County Championship, Axa Equity & Law League (now National Cricket League) and Benson & Hedges Cup. In that season Lara set the world record for a first-class cricket score of 501 whilst playing for Warwickshire against Durham County Cricket Club; the team total of 810–4 declared in that match is also a club record. In 1995 they won the County Championship again, and also won the C&G Trophy. This was to be the last trophy of Dermot Reeve's captaincy with him stepping down during the 1996 season, Bob Woolmer also having moved on to coach South Africa. 1997 saw them lifting the AXA league trophy once again, but this proved to be a false dawn. Performances for the next few years were poor, including relegation to the second division of the County Championship and National Cricket leagues.

However they have since been promoted in both competitions (though relegated again in the National Cricket League), won the Benson & Hedges Cup in 2002 and strong performances with the bat saw the county reclaim the County Championship in 2004. Warwickshire were once again promoted in the national cricket league, and played in the top division of both competitions in 2006.

Until the year 2005, the club captain was Nick Knight, the coach was John Inverarity, and the Chief Executive was Dennis Amiss, though all three stepped down at the end of the season. Heath Streak was appointed as captain for the 2006 and 2007 seasons, but resigned after one game of the 2007 season on 25 April 2007, and Darren Maddy replaced Streak as captain.

The 2007 Championship season was a big disaster for Warwickshire, who were relegated to Division Two, after not winning a single game since they topped the table in early May. They also got relegated from Pro40 league, a matter made worse when local rivals Worcestershire CCC clinched the title.

Since the end of the disastrous 2007 season Warwickshire made several changes to the team and management staff. Controversial coach Mark Greatbatch was sacked and Ashley Giles replaced him as Director of Cricket. Former Warwickshire Bear and South Africa international Allan Donald joined the Bears' coaching staff. Fans favourite Dougie Brown also took up an Academy Coaching role. After a successful campaign in Division 2, the Bears were promoted back to the top flight after only a season's absence in September 2008.

Maddy stepped down from the captaincy in November 2008. Ian Westwood was announced as his replacement. In 2009 Indian seamer Sreesanth replaced Jeetan Patel, who was busy with national duties for New Zealand, to become the first Indian to join the club. Westwood in turn stepped down as captain at the end of the 2010 season. Jim Troughton took over as captain shortly after, before struggling with injury during the 2014 season. Varun Chopra stood in before Troughton retired from first class cricket in 2015, promoting Chopra to permanent captain.

Twenty20 Cup history

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Warwickshire's first ever game in Twenty20 cricket was against Somerset at Taunton, where the Bears defeated the Sabres by 19 runs. This result was followed by wins over Worcestershire (by 20 runs), Glamorgan (by 68 runs), and Northamptonshire (by 54 runs). Gloucestershire, who finished first in the division, were the only team to beat the Bears when they won by 8 wickets at Edgbaston. This meant that Warwickshire finished second in the Midlands, West and Wales Division behind Gloucestershire, and qualified for the finals day as the best runner-up.

The finals day was held on 19 July at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Warwickshire met Leicestershire in their semi-final, who they defeated by 7 wickets, with Trevor Penney top scoring for the Bears with 43 runs. Surrey claimed victory over Gloucestershire in their semi-final to set up a Surrey-Warwickshire final. Unfortunately, Warwickshire were unable to perform in the final, and only scored 115 runs. Surrey managed to score 119 runs in just 11 overs, and claimed victory.

2004

With expectations high at Edgbaston, Warwickshire entertained Somerset in the first clash of the 2004 season. The Bears secured victory by 7 wickets. After Warwickshire lost to Glamorgan (by 26 runs), things started to look bad for the Bears. Defeats against Worcestershire (by 3 wickets), and Northamptonshire (by 4 wickets), left the team in danger of not qualifying for the Quarter-Finals, but victory over Gloucestershire (by 2 wickets) on the last day, meant that Warwickshire qualified as one of the best third-placed team.

The Bears drew Glamorgan in the quarter-finals. Although they had managed to beat Glamorgan at Cardiff once, Warwickshire were not able to achieve victory again, and lost by 5 wickets to the Dragons, who progressed to the finals day, and eventually went out to the 2004 victors, the Leicestershire Foxes.

2005

With changes to the format for the 2005 season, Warwickshire now had to play 8 games in the group stage to qualify. Their first game of the season was against Worcestershire at New Road, where the Bears lost by only 1 run. This was followed by defeats to Northamptonshire (by 38 runs), and another 1-run defeat to Worcestershire. Warwickshire secured qualification from the MMW division in second after victories over Glamorgan (by 20 runs and by 4 runs) Somerset (by 47 runs) Northamptonshire (by 41 runs), and a no result against Gloucestershire.

Warwickshire bowed out of the competition in the quarter-final to Surrey. After sharing a nail biting draw (Surrey 149 (20 Overs), Warwickshire 115 (15 Overs)), a bowl off followed, with Surrey claiming victory 4–3. Surrey would go on to be defeated in the Semi-Final to Lancashire, who themselves lost in the final to Somerset.

2006

Warwickshire started the 2006 season by playing Northamptonshire at the County Ground, Northampton where the Bears won by 24 runs. This was followed by wins over Somerset (by 7 wickets), Northampton (by 20 runs), Worcestershire (by 11 runs; defeats to Glamorgan (by 6 wickets), Gloucestershire (by 3 runs), Worcestershire (by 4 runs), and a no result against Glamorgan. Warwickshire secured 3rd position in the table, but their record was worse than both Yorkshire and Kent (who both finished third in their respected leagues), so did not qualify for the quarter-final.

The final's day was once again controlled by Leicestershire, who beat Nottinghamshire in a spectacular final that lasted to the last over of the game.

2007

Warwickshire recruited the services of twice winner, and Twenty20 expert Darren Maddy for the 2007 season, and his expertise helped the team to once again reach the quarter-finals of the competition. The Bears started with a victory over Somerset by 7 runs. This was followed by wins against Glamorgan (by 3 runs and by 9 runs) Northamptonshire (by 12 runs), Gloucestershire (by 27 runs), defeats against Northamptonshire (by 4 wickets), Worcestershire (by 13 runs), and no results against Worcestershire. The Bears qualified as the MMW leaders, with 11 points from 8 games.

In the quarter-final, Warwickshire hosted Lancashire in an entertaining game. After Lancashire set the Bears 194 to win, Warwickshire were able to claw back to 187 for 7, and lost by 7 runs. It was Lancashire who would go through to face Gloucestershire, Sussex, and Kent on the Finals day, held at Edgbaston in August.

2012

Warwickshire finished 4th of 6 teams in the Midlands/Wales/West division, failing to make the quarter-finals.

2013

Warwickshire finished 4th of 6 teams in the Midlands/Wales/West division, failing to make the quarter-finals. After the season, Warwickshire changed their name to Birmingham Bears for T20 competitions. The Bears has been synonymous with the team for many years and will continue to play under the Warwickshire banner in the other two competitions.

2014

The Birmingham Bears came 4th in the North Group (behind Lancashire Lightning, Nottinghamshire Outlaws and Worcestershire Rapids) to qualify for the knockout stages. They faced Essex in the quarter finals which they won by 19 Runs, to reach finals day at their home ground. On Finals Day, having beaten Surrey in the semi final, they went on to beat Lancashire by 4 runs to win their first T20 title.

List of captains

Daes Name
1882–1883 England D. Buchanan
1884–1886 England H. Rotherham
1887–1901 England H. W. Bainbridge
1902 England H. W. Bainbridge and England T. S. Fishwick
1903–1906 England J. F. Byrne
1907 England T. S. Fishwick and England J. F. Byrne
1908–1909 England A. C. S. Glover
1910 England H. J. Goodwin
1911–1914 England F. R. Foster
1919 England G. W. Stephens
1920–1929 England F. S. G. Calthorpe
1930–1937 England R. E. S. Wyatt
1938–1947 England P. Cranmer
1948 England H. E. Dollery and England R. H. Maudsley
1949–1955 England H. E. Dollery
1956 England W. E. Hollies
1957–1967 England M. J. K. Smith
1968–1974 England A. C. Smith
1975–1977 England D. J. Brown
1978–1979 England J. Whitehouse
1980–1984 England R. G. D. Willis
1985–1987 England N. Gifford
1988–1992 England T. A. Lloyd
1993–1996 England D. A. Reeve
1997 England T. A. Munton
1998 Trinidad and Tobago B. C. Lara
1999–2000 England N. M. K. Smith
2001–2003 England M. J. Powell
2003–2005 England N. V. Knight
2006–2007 Zimbabwe H. H. Streak
2007–2008 England D. L. Maddy
2009–2010 England I. J. Westwood
2011-2014 England J. O. Troughton
2014 to date England V. Chopra

Players

Current squad

  • No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt.
  • double-dagger denotes players with international caps.
  •  *  denotes a player who has been awarded a county cap.
No. Name Nationality Birth date Batting Style Bowling Style Notes
Batsmen
3 Varun Chopra*  England (1987-06-21) 21 June 1987 (age 37) Right-handed Right arm off break Club captain
4 Ian Bell* double-dagger  England (1982-04-11) 11 April 1982 (age 42) Right-handed Right arm medium
9 Jonathan Trott* double-dagger  England (1981-04-22) 22 April 1981 (age 43) Right-handed Right arm medium
10 William Porterfield* double-dagger  Ireland (1984-09-06) 6 September 1984 (age 40) Left-handed Right arm off break
12 Jonathon Webb  England (1992-01-12) 12 January 1992 (age 32) Right-handed Right arm medium
16 Sam Hain  England (1995-07-16) 16 July 1995 (age 29) Right-handed Right arm off break
21 Freddie Coleman double-dagger  Scotland (1991-12-15) 15 December 1991 (age 32) Right-handed Right arm off break
22 Ian Westwood*  England (1982-07-13) 13 July 1982 (age 42) Left-handed Right arm off break
23 Andrew Umeed  Scotland (1996-04-19) 19 April 1996 (age 28) Right-handed Right arm leg break
32 Laurie Evans  England (1987-10-12) 12 October 1987 (age 37) Right-handed Right arm medium-fast
All-rounders
13 Keith Barker*  England (1986-10-21) 21 October 1986 (age 38) Left-handed Left arm medium
17 Ateeq Javid  England (1991-10-15) 15 October 1991 (age 33) Right-handed Right arm off break
19 Chris Woakes* double-dagger  England (1989-03-02) 2 March 1989 (age 35) Right-handed Right arm medium-fast
26 Aaron Thomason  England (1997-06-26) 26 June 1997 (age 27) Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
81 Rikki Clarke* double-dagger  England (1981-09-29) 29 September 1981 (age 43) Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
Wicket-keepers
11 Tim Ambrose* double-dagger  England (1982-12-01) 1 December 1982 (age 41) Right-handed —
— Alex Mellor  England (1991-07-22) 22 July 1991 (age 33) Left-handed —
Bowlers
5 Jeetan Patel* double-dagger  New Zealand (1980-05-07) 7 May 1980 (age 44) Right-handed Right arm off break Overseas player
14 Josh Poysden  England (1991-08-08) 8 August 1991 (age 33) Left-handed Right arm leg break
20 Oliver Hannon-Dalby  England (1989-06-20) 20 June 1989 (age 35) Left-handed Right arm medium-fast
25 Richard Jones  England (1986-11-06) 6 November 1986 (age 38) Right-handed Right arm medium-fast
27 Mark Adair  Ireland (1996-03-27) 27 March 1996 (age 28) Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
30 Boyd Rankin* double-dagger  Ireland (1984-07-05) 5 July 1984 (age 40) Left-handed Right arm medium-fast Previously represented England, before returning allegiances to Ireland
31 Chris Wright*  England (1985-07-14) 14 July 1985 (age 39) Right-handed Right arm fast-medium
44 Recordo Gordon  England (1991-10-12) 12 October 1991 (age 33) Right-handed Right arm fast-medium

Notable Warwickshire players

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India

Ireland

Kenya

New Zealand

Pakistan

Scotland

South Africa

Sri Lanka

West Indies

Zimbabwe

For a full list of Warwickshire players see List of Warwickshire CCC players.

Records

First-class runs

Qualification: at least 20,000 runs[7]

Player Runs
Dennis Amiss 35,146
Willie Quaife 33,862
Mike Smith 27,672
Tom Dollery 23,458
Bob Wyatt 21,687

First-class wickets

Qualification: at least 1,000 wickets[8]

Player Wickets
Eric Hollies 2,201
Sydney Santall 1,207
Jack Bannister 1,181
Joseph Mayer 1,142
Tom Cartwright 1,058
David Brown 1,005

Other records

Record name Record value Record Holder Opposition Location Year
Team totals
Highest total for 810-4 dec v Durham Birmingham 1994
Highest total against 887 v Yorkshire Birmingham 1896
Lowest total for 16 v Kent Tonbridge 1913
Lowest total against 15 v Hampshire Birmingham 1922
Batting
Highest score1 501* BC Lara Durham Birmingham 1994
Most runs in season 2417 MJK Smith 1959
Most runs in career 35,146 DL Amiss 1960–1987
Best partnership for each wicket
1st 377* NF Horner
K Ibadulla		 Surrey The Oval 1960
2nd 465* JA Jameson
RB Kanhai		 Gloucestershire Birmingham 1974
3rd 327 SP Kinneir
WG Quaife		 Lancashire Birmingham 1901
4th 470 AI Kallicharran
GW Humpage		 Lancashire Southport 1982
5th 335 JO Troughton
TR Ambrose		 Hampshire Birmingham 2009
6th 327 LJ Evans
TR Ambrose		 Sussex Birmingham 2015
7th 289* IR Bell
T Frost		 Sussex Horsham 2004
8th 228 AJW Croom
RES Wyatt		 Worcestershire Dudley 1925
9th 233 IJL Trott
JS Patel		 Yorkshire Birmingham 2009
10th 214 NV Knight
A Richardson		 Hampshire Birmingham 2002
Bowling
Best bowling 10–41 JD Bannister Combined Services Birmingham 1959
Best match bowling 15–76 S Hargreave Surrey The Oval 1903
Wickets in season 180 WE Hollies 1946
Wickets in career 2201 WE Hollies 1932-1957
Notes
  1. ^ Brian Lara's 501* in 1994 is a current world record.

References

Notes

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Birley, p. 145.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Yorkshire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Middlesex, Kent and Surrey.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Bibliography

  • Harry Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962.
  • Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999.
  • Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970.
  • Roy Webber, The Playfair Book of Cricket Records, Playfair Books, 1951.
  • Playfair Cricket Annual – various editions.
  • Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – various editions.
  • Warwickshire County Cricket Club Yearbook – various editions (esp. 2004).

External links

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