Sussex opener for Bears as County Championship fixtures announced
CRICKET
WARWICKSHIRE will begin the challenge for promotion from Division Two of the 2018 Specsavers County Championship against Sussex in a home fixture at Edgbaston on Friday 13th April.
Four of the Bears’ first five Championship games will be played at Edgbaston, with the match against Sussex followed by a trip to Wantage Road to face Northamptonshire (Friday 20th April) and home matches against Derbyshire (Thursday 3rd May) and Northamptonshire (Friday 11th May). Following a window for Royal London One-Day Cup group games, Warwickshire then face Glamorgan in the Championship on Saturday 9th June.
First team coach Jim Troughton said: “It’s very exciting to receive the fixtures and begin our plans for the early part of the season; starting with a block of home games is a great opportunity for us. However, we fully appreciate the challenge to get back up to Division One and we’re under no illusion as to how tough it’s going to be.”
The ten-team, 14-game format of Division Two of the County Championship will mean the Bears miss home games against Leicestershire and Middlesex and away games to Derbyshire and Gloucestershire, with home and away fixtures against the other five teams in the division.
Edgbaston will once again host the final game of the season, with Kent the visitors on Monday 24th September.
The Royal London One-Day Cup, which Warwickshire won in 2016, starts at Edgbaston on Thursday 17th May against Derbyshire Falcons, with subsequent home fixtures in the North group against Northamptonshire Steelbacks (Wednesday 30th May), Leicestershire Foxes (Sunday 3rd June) and Worcestershire Rapids (Thursday 7th June).
“As 2016 champions, we obviously had a disappointing Royal London One-Day Cup campaign,” said Troughton. “But one of the highlights of last season was the way that we transformed our T20 form and game plan in the middle of the season by getting to the final. We’re obviously looking to take this positive approach into our One-Day cricket in the new season, and we’re delighted to start our campaign with another home fixture.”
