WARWICKSHIRE captain Alex Davies says there are plenty of positives to take from the season.
The Bears will conclude their 2025 Rothesay County Championship season hoping to end the campaign on a high – and give themselves the best chance of pushing up the table when they travel across the Midlands to title hopefuls Nottinghamshire on Wednesday.
Warwickshire have been frustrated by the weather in recent weeks as England’s domestic calendar draws to a close.
They have had to settle for draws at Surrey and in their final home match against Essex, where rain and wind made a result impossible.
Now, attentions collectively turn to these coming four days at Trent Bridge.
Hosts Notts beat Surrey by 20 runs at the Kia Oval last week to place themselves in the box seat to finish this season at the summit of the Division One table.
But the Bears maintain their own aspirations of signing off in style – the chances of them finishing a place or two higher than their current standing of fourth remain very much intact.
Davies, who has led the Bears through this competitive campaign in which they’ve only lost a single match in the red ball format, has been encouraged by his side’s efforts in their first season under coach Ian Westwood.
And he has been left to wonder what might have been had the Bears enjoyed a little more weather-related fortune.
Davies told the club’s official website: “On the whole, I think we can look at the season as a fairly positive one.
“We’re going to push really hard at Trent Bridge this week to try and secure third place.
“There’s a real outside chance, if other results were to go our way, that we could sneak into second, and if you’d have offered that to any team at the beginning of the season they’d have taken it.”
Davies, who is not a stranger to sharing the wicket-keeping responsibilities in his career, having previously done so at Lancashire and earlier in his time with the Bears when he called Michael Burgess a teammate, has worked alongside young Kai Smith this term.
Smith, who signed a new contract with the Bears back in July, made a name for himself when playing a leading hand in the One Day Cup win over Worcestershire at Edgbaston last season, with an unbeaten 130, which guided Warwickshire to quarter-final victory over their rivals.
Davies says he has been heartened by Smith’s development and predicts more progress and success.
The skipper added: “Kai has been a breath of fresh air around the dressing room. He’s a great guy to have around – he’s super positive, super smiley all the time.
“Sometimes he’s been like a little brother to me. Last year’s Metro Bank quarter-final against Worcestershire showed what Kai can do with the bat, and it’s resulted in him playing a lot of cricket this year.
“He’s worked really hard on his keeping in the winter, and he’d be the first to say that it mightn’t have gone exactly how he’d have liked it to this year, but between ourselves, we just do what’s best for the team, depending on the balance of team we want to pick.
“It’s a big winter for Kai, and he’ll push on in his work with the gloves. We want Kai to be our long-term keeper, so another body of work this winter, more graft, and hopefully that spot becomes his long-term. We’re hopeful and confident that he can kick on and show the talent he has that he can play for England at some point.”
As the Bears prepare for their hard-earned winter break, plans have already been put in place for the 2026 campaign, in which Davies hopes to help lead the club closer to silverware. Already, they’ve signalled their ambitions throughout their recruitment.
Seamer Nathan Gilchrist has spent the end of this season, ahead of his official joining, on loan, having made the switch from Kent and has made a positive early impression, while all-rounder Jordan Thompson will join from Yorkshire this winter.
Added to that, Australian international Beau Webster will return for another overseas stint next year, and Bears favourite Keith Barker will also return upon departing Hampshire.
Davies said: “The club’s recruitment has been brilliant, to be honest, very shrewd,” Davies added. “There’s been no secret that we wanted to strengthen the bowling department, as every team does. Nathan Gilchrist and Jordan Thompson are certain profiles of attack, and they’ll give us a different dynamic, and they’re different styles of bowlers to what we already have.
“You’ve seen in the two games already that Gilly has played for us, alongside Michael Booth, that he gives us something different. On top of those guys, you can add Keith Barker to the mix – he’s extremely experienced, he’s been a Bear, he’s won it all, and the quality is still there from him.
“We’ve recruited nicely – even this year, Tom Latham came in and solidified and stabilised our batting line-up. Beau Webster, a little lower down, has been swashbuckling and smacking the ball around in the middle order and bowling some valuable overs.
“Then we have had Will Young in on the back of Tom getting injured – recruitment on the whole has been positive. We’re a big club that wants to keep attracting those types of players, and we want to win Championships, so you have to keep evolving every year.”
