WARWICKSHIRE First Team Coach Ian Westwood said the county’s opening Championship game of the season was an emotional one.
The Bears drew with Sussex at Edgbaston after being set an unlikely target of 388 in a minimum of 44 overs on the final day.
Sussex made themselves safe before finally declaring their second innings on 313 for seven (Tom Alsop 82 not out from 131 balls).
Warwickshire finished the match on 104 for two – Rob Yates ending unbeaten on 65 (82 balls) to complete his excellent start to the season with 180 runs, three wickets and a catch in the match.
Westwood said: “It was quite an emotional game in many ways.
“There was so much going on on the first day with Keith Cook’s last day after 52 years at the club and us having four debutants.
“I felt pretty drained after that day, but I think there are loads of positives for us to take from the game.
“We were disappointed not to get into a position to push for a win but overall I’m fairly pleased.
“If we are really critical I’d say we missed the chance on day one where the ball did enough for us and maybe with a bit of inexperience, having seen the pace and carry, we didn’t capitalise on that.
“That’s probably the only regret from the game for me.
“We tried to set the team up in this game to give us the best chance of taking 20 wickets.
“Once the ball got a little bit softer on that first day batters have dominated so it was tricky to try and force the issue. We kept trying and trying, even today there wasn’t a stage when we gave up hope of winning until they really batted us out of it at the end.”
After Sussex resumed on the final morning on 126 for three, James Coles soon lifted Yates for a handsome straight six but the spinner hit back with his third wicket when nightwatchman Jack Carson scooped to Vishwa Fernando at short fine leg.
Coles (47, 94) was on the threshold of his second half-century of the match when he became Fernando’s first victim for Warwickshire, caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Kai Smith.
In the hour before lunch it became clear that the match was going nowhere as Alsop and John Simpson plodded through a partnership of 47 from 15 overs. Simpson fell lbw to Dan Mousley just before the interval, after which Alsop continued to put his first innings first-baller firmly behind him by moving to a compact 100-ball half-century.
Alsop and Fynn Hudson-Prentice added 71 in 15 overs before their alliance ended in slapstick fashion. The batters were on different wavelengths over the merits of a third run and found themselves at the same end, the latter perishing run out for 30 (53 balls). The declaration soon followed.
Warwickshire reached 27 without loss at tea at which they faced the tempting challenge of scoring 361 from 36 overs in the last session. They resisted the temptation.
Jayden Seales pinned Alex Davies lbw with the first ball of the evening session and Carson bowled Hamza Shaikh with a beauty for the second time in the match. Thereafter, Yates and Sam Hain saw out time for a share of the spoils.
