28th July 2023
| Matt Thompson
Warwickshire make the short journey acorss the M50 to Sudbrook on Sunday to take on Wales with plenty of established first team staffers in their line up.
The Bears, led by former England Women's Head Coach Mark Robinson have named Ed Barnard, Craig Miles, Rob Yates, Liam Norwell, Ethan Brookes and club captain Will Rhodes in their travelling squad as they prepare for the 50 over competition (formerly known as the Royal London One Day Cup) by taking on Wales in the annual NCCA showcase fixture. Yates only recently featured for England Lions in their 2022 tour of Australia whilst Barnard, Miles and Norwell have been consistent performers in first team cricket for a number of years - Barnard and Miles only making their stays permanent at Edgbaston in recent seaons coming from Gloucestershire and Worcestershire respectively. Wales will be familiar with left arm wrist spinner Jake Lintott who has featured for Wiltshire on numerous occasions - he also featured in the Hundred last year and looks set to be with The Bears for the rest of season after unsuccessfuly securing a wildcard spot this time around. Hamza Shaikh (rookie contract) and new academy recruit Theo Wylie also feature.
CAPTION: Rob Yates is one of many first team regulars heading to Sudbrook on Sunday.
Typically over recent seasons Wales have faced off against Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens, famously pulling off a victory in 2021 before the Welsh professional county exacted revenge last year. This year it's a chance for Wales to pit themselves against a different opponent in a bid to showcase the abilities of players looking to forge a career in the game, which is why there are a number of changes to the regular side that featured across the NCCA One Day Trophy competiton last month. Out go the experienced Brad Wadlan and Cam Herring and in come Morgan Bevans and Henry Hurle, fresh from a productive week at the ECB Super 4s in Loughborough. Cameron Hemp, who has been on the radar of Lancashire in recent weeks remains in the top order as does Steff Roberts who has arguably been Wales' best batter outside of Wadlan in the limited overs format this season.
Port Talbot's Joe Voke is welcomed back into the fold to show what he can do with half an eye on next season. Sam Pearce, who joined Warwickshire's pre-season plans as recently as two seasons ago returns to skipper the side whilst there is a debut for 18 year old Cian Davies in the absence of Tegid Phillips who is absent on family duties. Davies has impressed with bat and ball for Wales U18s and will get an opportunity to demosntrate his resilience against a seasoned professional attack. The seam attack of Rich Edwards, Saihaj Jaspal and Jack Harding all feature given they all enjoyed impressive campaigns for Wales earlier in the season with the white ball.
CAPTION: Cam Hemp has been attracting interest from Lancashire in recent weeks - he lines up for Wales. Credit: CIAC Images
Head of Talent Pathway, Matt Dando-Thompson shared his thoughts prior to Sunday. He said: "the showcase game is always one of the dates that players look for at the start of the summer. It has that added incentive given the quality of opposition and the doors it can open for you if you perform well. We're fortunate to have an abundance of players with ability that have experienced a fair bit of 2nd XI cricket over the last few years and there will no better occasion than Sunday for them to show just how good they can be. It's great that Warwickshire are bringing a strong side - we know it will be tough, but equally we have showed over the last two years against Glamorgan that we can compete. The lads will give it their all and see where that gets us to."
Play commences from 11am at Sudbrook on Sunday with the game sponsored by Wrexham based sports company NetWorldSports. Admission is FREE!
Wales NC from: HLR Friend (Newport), JH Voke (Port Talbot), CH Hemp (Swansea), SH Roberts (Swansea), MJ Bevans (Newport), HE Hurle+, SJ Pearce* (Lansdown), C Davies (Ynysygerwyn), SBS Jaspal (Ammanford) RD Edwards (Neath), JC Harding (Taunton St Andrews), WS Moore (Camarthen Wanderers).
Warwickshire CCC from: Will Rhodes, Ed Barnard, Craig Miles, Theo Wylie, Manraj Johal, Rob Yates, Liam Norwell, Michael Booth, Hamza Shaikh, Ethan Brookes, George Garrett, Kai Smith, Jake Lintott.
Wiltshire Champinship Report - Herring Makes History in Corsham Draw
Wales skipper Cam Herring made history twice in this week's NCCA Championship draw with Wiltshire at Corsham. After losing the toss in unfavorable conditions Wales amassed an impressive 403-9 in their first innings with all of the top order making starts after Harry Friend and Cam Hemp put on 51 for the first wicket. A small collapse courtesy of Chris Aubrey's tight bowling reduced Wales to 81-4 but Herring flind a willing partner in Will Ryan (38) to put on 90 for the 5th wicket before the former nicked to Cullen on the stroke of lunch.
Tim Moses (34) added a further 51 with Herring for the 6th wicket before he chipped one back to spinner Joe King but Herring kept going to reach his third hundred in the three day format with a sumptuous on drive down the ground. The former Gloucestershire staffer cranked up the gears alongside Tegid Phillips (46) as Wales motored to 400 enabling Herring to surpass the highest individual score by a Welshman in 35 years of national counties cricket, that of Dan Cherry (170) against Berkshire in 2004.
CAPTION: Cam Herring made history twice against Wiltshire as well as receiving his county cap.
On a flat and quick scoring ground Wiltshire looked like they might match Wales at various stages depsite Dylan Church falling to George Pritchard without scoring. Jack Mynott (83), Jack Stearman (58), Ed Young (66) and Jake Goodwin (66) all contributed but Wales - through Harrison Jones' (2-49) left arm spin and the returning Jack Harding (4-61) - chipped away as the minimum 90 over allocation neared to leave Wiltshire 51 runs short at 357 all out. The remaining 8 overs on Day 2 were entertaining enough as Godsal, Aubrey and King nipped out Friend and Hemp as well as nightwatchman Phillips and nighthawk Pritchard.
Steff Roberts (53) and Brad Wadlan (44) did the hard work on the final morning before both fell in quick succession. Will Ryan (44) looked in fine touch launching Young and King over the boundary on multiple occasions before one shot too many found deep mid wicket leaving Herring and Moses to keep the Welsh lead moving. Herring reached 73 not out in the afternoon making his contributions the highest in a match surpassing Jamie Sylvester's 242 run effort. A draw looked likely but Wales declared early in the evening setting Wiltshire an unlikely 347 to win inside 45 overs - Tegid Phillips claimed 3-50 before both sides shook hands at 5.30pm.
The draw (Wales and Wilts 12 points each) leaves Wales in the middle of the pack with two games to play after ther washed out affair with Shropshire. They host a Cornish side (in two weeks time at Abergavenny) that inched over the line against Shropshire in the final over leaving them top of the table. Nothign short of a win will likely leave Wales with too much to do in their final encounter against Dorset at the end of August to obtain promotion.