Giles: Time for Bears to reboot
ASHLEY Giles reflected on relegation-bound Warwickshire’s crushing three-day defeat to champions-elect Essex and admitted: “It’s been the tale of our summer’.’
Essex virtually sealed their seventh Specsavers County Championship title by completing an innings-and-56run victory at Edgbaston.
Trailing by 168 on first innings, the home side were bowled out for 112 to suffer their second thumping of the season at the hands of Essex, who hammered them by an innings and 164 runs at Chelmsford in June.
With second-placed Lancashire on the back foot against Somerset at Taunton, the title is all but Essex’s after they totally outplayed the Bears.
The post-match mood in the two dressing rooms could not have been more contrasting – while Essex will begin the 2018 season as defending champions, Warwickshire will be in Division Two, their nine-year stay in the top flight having come to a bruising end.
And Giles, the Bears’ sport director, admitted: “200 was never enough in the first innings of this game and that’s been the tale of our summer.
“We haven’t got enough runs but equally we haven’t bowled sides out either. We’ve only got 20 wickets in a game once this year.
“Bowling has probably been our strength in recent years and we really haven’t fired in that department. But it’s not a case of one or the other, it’s both. We have just not got it right in championship cricket. “It’s disappointing. “We’re going to get relegated and it’s important what happens now. We are certainly going to go through some change and perhaps the best place to do that is the Second Division.
“With two teams out of eight going down now it’s tough in Division One and everyone’s going to take their medicine at some point and go down. “We spent ten years in Division One and played some very good cricket and won some trophies. Now it’s a chance for us to start again.”
Warwickshire resumed on the third morning on nine without loss and any hopes of a recovery evaporated in minutes. Within ten overs, the Bears lurched to 25 for four.
Jamie Porter removed openers Dominic Sibley, caught at first slip, and Sam Hain, lbw, in the space of nine balls. Former England pair Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell were dismissed by Sam Cook, who induced the former to play on and had the latter caught behind, inside-edging a superb delivery. Chris Woakes diverted spinner Simon Harmer’s tenth ball to leg slip and the arrival of rain just before and during the lunch interval merely delayed the procession.
From 55 for five at lunch, the Bears lost another wicket before acquiring another run as Alex Mellor edged to slip off Harmer to provide the spinner’s 20th championship wicket against Warwickshire this season. Porter then meted out a pair to Keith Barker when the left-hander edged to wicketkeeper James Foster. Matt Lamb showed some solid resistance for the second time in the game but, on 35 (66 balls, four fours), lofted Harmer to Dan Lawrence on the mid-wicket boundary.
Lawrence took another fine catch, running round from gully, to remove Jeetan Patel off Cook, leaving last pair Henry Brookes and Ryan Sidebottom with 63 to find to make Essex bat again.
They managed seven of them before Brookes edged Harmer to slip.
We spent ten years in Division One and played some very good cricket. Now it’s a chance for us to start again Ashley Giles