Warwickshire Bears maul Kent & Surrey in Festival opener

Sunday 25 March

Warwickshire Bears maul Kent & Surrey in Festival opener

Warwickshire 77 for 1 off 15.3 overs (R.Cooper 33*; D.Gardner 1-3, R.Wickson 1-15) defeated Kent & Surrey 76 for 5 off 25 overs (P.Meyers 34*)

In a match reduced to 25 overs due to early morning rain, Warwickshire opened the Festival in style with a comprehensive win against Kent & Surrey by 9 wickets. They lost wickets at regular intervals and never recovered after being 8 for 2 from their first five overs.

Peter Meyers held the innings together with a brave 34 not out as Kent & Surrey reached the below average score of 76 for 5.

For Warwickshire, Duncan Gardner, Howard Clay and Roger Wickson all captured a wicket apiece.

In reply, Warwickshire made easy work of their target, reaching 77 for 1 with nearly 10 overs to spare.

Opener Richard Cooper batted through with 33 not out, while he was well supported by Neil Spragg (20) and Duncan Gardner (19 not out).

Player of the Match: Duncan Gardner.

Umpires: Stuart Chilmaid and Keith Boyall

Scorer: Eric Balakrishnan

Yorkshire Ridings win a match dominated by batting

Yorkshire Ridings 165 for 2 off 27.3 overs (G.Orrell 54*, N.Allen 51, D.Fairbank 44*; M.Wheeler 122, N.Green 1-31) defeated Essex 164 for 0 off 30 overs (P.Wakefield 87*, S.Sood 71*).

Berkshire 61 for 0 (D.Tooze21*; D.Townsin 18*) defeated Kent & Surrey57 for 6 (G.Moir20).

After an early downpour reduced the first match to 28 overs, Kent & Surrey captain Neil Richards won the toss and elected to bat first.

Unfortunately, they continued where they left off a day before as they stumbled through their allotted overs to reach the dismal total of 57 for 6. For Berkshire, Andy Brown and Aston Kinsey were the major destroyers with 28 and 2-14 respectively.

Berkshire were never stretched in reply and afforded the retirement of their captain David Tooze (21*) and fellow opener Don Townsin (18*) as they reached their target with nearly 17 overs to spare.

Player of the Match: David Tooze

Umpires: Gordon Whickman and Stuart Chilmaid

Scorer: Ethan Xuereb and Claire Whickman

Warwickshire remain unbeaten as they cruise past Essex

Warwickshire235 for 5 (D.Gardner 54, R.Cooper45*;S.Healey 44*, C.Harborne3-32) defeated Essex 105 for 7 off 30 overs (I.Selby49*; D.Gardner 2-10).