Title rivals face off in the final match
Warwickshire are ready for a mouth-watering finale to the season at Edgbaston from today (10.30am) when they face Kent in a match which will decide the destiny of the County Championship Division Two title.
Both sides having secured promotion with a match to spare, they now face each other in that match – and the title equation could not be tighter. The two teams are level on points so whoever takes most from the final match will go up as champions. If they take equal points, Kent will take the title by virtue of having won more games.
It is all set for a cracking end to the 2018 season at Edgbaston – and, never mind the title duel, there is the little matter of Jonathan Trott’s final match for Warwickshire.
First-team coach Jim Troughton is ‘very proud’ of what his team has achieved already this season but would love them to send ‘Trotty’ off with one last win and trophy.
“It will be an emotional four days,” Troughton said. “Trotty has been absolutely brilliant for Warwickshire and will go down as one of the all-time great Bears and we have got one or two things lined up for him, but it would be great to send him off with a trophy.
“The guys have played a lot of really good championship cricket to secure promotion with a game to spare. They fully deserve promotion and I am very proud of them. Now we have one more challenge this season and it is a tough one against a very strong Kent side. We know we have to get more points from the game than them and it’s all set up for a great game of championship cricket.”
Warwickshire will again be without Chris Woakes, who has been made unavailable by the England and Wales Cricket Board, but Ian Bell could play despite suffering a thumb injury on the last day of the promotion-clinching draw at Sussex last week.
“Hopefully, Belly will be OK,” said Troughton. “There is no break but quite a lot of bruising so we will have to see how it settles down over the weekend.
“We are all really looking forward to the game. Winning promotion was the objective at the start of the season and to have done that with a game to spare is a real tribute to the players, to their skills and attitude and to the leadership of Jeetan Patel. Now it would be lovely to put the icing on the cake and send Trotty off with one more trophy.”
