Matt Maher: Danny Briggs is happy to fly under the radar at Bears

The all-time leading wicket taker in the T20 Blast by a considerable margin, even by Briggs’ standards 2024 has already been quite the year, the 27 wickets he claimed in the group stage of the tournament surpassing a record previously held by former Bears talisman Jeetan Patel.

Not that you will hear Briggs boasting about it.

“It is just one of those things,” he says. “Every year I try to be as consistent as possible.

“Some years you don’t pick up the wickets as much, some years you do. This season things have just flowed my way.”

Such an understated answer is typical of Briggs who, despite statistically being one of the best T20 bowlers in the game, still feels like something of an unsung hero.

It is telling, for instance, that as Warwickshire prepare for tonight’s quarter-final against Gloucestershire, the 33-year-old is some way from being the main media attraction.

That honour instead goes to Dan Mousley and Jacob Bethell, the club’s young all-rounders being tipped as future England stars after receiving their first international call-ups.

Once upon a time, it was Briggs in that position. The former Hampshire and Sussex star remains the youngest specialist spinner to play for England in an international T20. His debut, 12 years ago next week, was followed by a further six appearances but it is now more than a decade since his phone rang with an international call.

“I was very fortunate to play international cricket early in my career but if I look back now, it probably came slightly too early,” says Briggs, who acknowledges his game lost its way a little after being dropped by England in early 2014.

By the time he was back on song, the white ball revolution which would lead to England’s 2019 World Cup triumph was already well underway.

“The last five or six years the England team has been amazing and too hard to get into, to be honest, for what I do, which is totally understandable,” he says.

“That team is so set, particularly in the spin department, there is no real way in. It has not been a frustration at all. It is just one of those where my timing, in terms of my career, was maybe a little bit early.”

Briggs, who grew up on the Isle of Wight, will admit some disappointment his efforts in the Blast have not led to more opportunities in the lucrative franchise leagues around the world. Other than one season playing for the Adelaide Stars in the Big Bash, his talents have been reserved for the domestic game only.

Of his Blast record, which currently stands at 246 wickets, nearly 30 more than nearest challenger Samit Patel, he is rightly proud.

While it is impossible not to see Briggs’ unassuming nature as one reason he goes under the radar, it probably goes some way to explaining his success in a format which can be mentally bruising for bowlers. As a spinner, Briggs must accept there are deliveries which will get hit into the stands.

“It is how you deal with that,” he says. “How you react mentally and physically because it is hard if you get hit out of the ground.

“You have to be a decent kind of character to come back and bowl again and be successful. I suppose that is the key. It is trying to ditch what has just happened and go again next ball.

“I would like to think I keep fairly calm in pretty hectic situations. Staying calm and clear really.

“I think I know my game pretty well, particularly the age I am now. I can assess what is the right ball to bowl at the right time. I imagine that is the key, going with your gut and knowing that is right and then trying to execute as often as possible. Some days go better than others.”

Briggs and his team-mates are desperately hoping tonight goes well as the Bears try to reach Finals Day for the first time in seven years.

The spinner claims the club’s record in quarter-finals has not been discussed in the dressing room and that is probably just as well. No team has lost more in Blast history than the Bears, who have gone out at the last-eight stage on nine occasions including in each of the last three seasons.

Briggs, who played in those defeats to Kent, Hampshire and Essex, believes this year’s team, now bolstered by the return of seamer Richard Gleeson from injury, has what it takes to end the hoodoo.

“We’ve been improving year on year and going into this season, it is the most balanced squad we’ve ever had,” he says.

“I feel like we have every base covered for whatever conditions we come up against. We are in a good position but still on the night you need to play good cricket and you are hoping someone on your side has a good evening and you get through.”

The Bears, who topped the North Group for the third year running, have played well enough to justify the confidence. But that was also the case in the last two seasons and the seven week gap between the last group stage game and tonight adds another variable. Undoubtedly, after so many quarter-final exits, there is pressure. More than 13,000 tickets have been sold for what is the biggest night of domestic cricket at Edgbaston this year.

Briggs, a two-time winner of the Blast with Hampshire in 2010 and 2012, who experienced the pain of final defeat with Sussex in 2018, is determined not to fall short again.

“Looking at the team we have, we are definitely capable of winning it all,” he says.

“We probably fell foul of it at Sussex. We had a really good team and lost a final and a quarter-final when I was there.

“That was a team we thought should be winning it. This is a team now where I think year, we should be winning it.

“That is the standard we want to set. It is just trying to stay calm as possible and make sure we do our thing on Friday and then go from there.”