[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

County Championship, Division One

vs Warwickshire

Edgbaston, Birmingham

Day One

Morning: The Bears won the toss and put the Pears in to bat on an early April Friday morning when the West Midlands was an oasis of patchy sunshine in a desert of rained-off games. Indeed, it was a credit to the Edgbaston ground staff that the pitch was bone-dry after overnight rain, though the air was damp enough to justify Warwickshire's decision to bowl; perhaps it was simply the Kookaburra ball being used for this first round of matches, but a near-perfect first hour followed in which Gareth Roderick took the game to Warks, scoring at a run a ball with some well-judged boundary shots on a slow outfield as well as one or two lucky edges. The introduction of Michael Booth for his first over of Championship cricket provided the first real element of danger for the Pears as the debutant began swinging the ball and drew two edges from those first six balls, but the runs continued to flow until the stroke of noon, when the short leg-side boundary tempted Jake Libby into an ill-judged pull off Booth which resulted in a top-edge caught in the deep for 38. Early signs that Kashif Ali wasn’t going to die wondering about any ball outside off, with two streaky boundaries through the slips, gave way to a positive-yet-judicious innings which took him to 33 off fifty balls before lunch, which was taken on 123-1 after the heartwarming sight of the home side resorting to an over of spin to close the first session of the season.

Afternoon: The floodlights came on, the bowling tightened up and the Pears batsmen were required to dig in for their runs as the day wore on. Nevertheless, both Rodders and Kash completed their half-centuries in good time, and looked entirely comfortable at the crease until the former was surprised by a delivery of extra lift from Will Rhodes and edged to slip for 68. Rob Jones duly saw out the remainder of the curtailed session, with tea taken slightly early due to a rain delay on 183-2.

Evening: Having picked up exactly where he left off last autumn, Kash deserved every last run he milked out of Warks as he completed a fluent maiden first-class century with a majestic six over long-on off Danny Briggs; the first ton to be scored by a SACA player, and surely not the last. It came to an end all too soon, alas; whether it was the fading light, the rain in the air or the umpires handing Warwickshire a Dukes ball by mistake after eighty overs, the Pears wobbled severely in the last ninety minutes of the day, losing Kash to a one-handed catch on 110 between the wickets of Jones, Adam Hose and Brett D'Oliveira as the ball began swinging and seaming. Matthew Waite countered with some characteristically crunching fours through the on-side before edging behind on 37, and the return of the rain then closed play on 316-7. Still just about Worcestershire's day on balance, and the late collapse may even offer encouragement to our bowlers that the Kookaburra isn't a busted flush, but it's a slight disappointment that our sights have been adjusted downward from 400+ at tea. As things stand, we'll have to aim for 350 plus interest on the morrow, and remind ourselves that we'd have jumped at a first-innings score like that at 10.59 on Friday morning.