WARWICKSHIRE head coach Ian Westwood praised in-form Sam Hain after making two half-centuries in the drawn County Championship match against Sussex.
The Bears batted through a rain-affected final day. Tom Latham led the way with 69, and there were half-centuries for skipper Alex Davies and Hain with Warwickshire on 260 for four, a lead of 142, when the players shook hands at 4.50pm. Sussex took 14 points, Warwickshire 13.
Westwood told the Bears’ YouTube channel: “Sam’s playing fantastically well, you know, and he’s starting to adapt to all conditions.
“We saw in the first innings when there was a chance he was taking the game on, using his feet, being really pro active and on the last day, when when you really need him, he’s happy to stick it out, be there at the end and walk off.
“He’s so consistent at the moment, I think that’s six 50s in his last six innings. So I’m sure that there’s a big one around a corner for him.”
Westwood also highlighted Australian off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli who took six wickets to add to his five-for against Somerset.
In all, he has claimed 12 victims in his opening two County Championship matches for Warwickshire.
Westwood added: “He’s a good bowler. There was a little bit of turn and on this pitch, and he bowled a lot of overs with with good skill – he’s got a big heart, a great attitude and energy about him.
“He bowled unchanged for almost two sessions, and sometimes as spinner, if want to take five, six wickets, you’ve got to bowl a huge number of overs and he did that – and he does it with a smile on his face.”
After only 21 wickets had fallen on the first three days, there was little likelihood of any change on day four, and the already slim odds on Sussex forcing a victory lengthened when 18 overs were lost to rain and bad light before lunch.
Sussex employed spin for most of the day, with Ollie Robinson even bowling two overs of off-breaks to support the efforts of off-spinner Jack Carson and slow left-armer James Coles, who bowled 53.3 overs between them.
There was some occasionally sharp turn out of the rough, and with men clustered around the bat, Warwickshire’s batters needed to be diligent, and they were.
The only disappointment was that neither Davies nor Latham, who were well set, could convert their hard work into a century. Hain’s unbeaten 53 came off 170 balls, and he didn’t hit a single boundary.
Warwickshire began on 88 for one, still 30 runs behind, and they knocked off 20 of that deficit in the 25 minutes before bad light, followed by rain forced the players off.
When they returned, Coles struck with his third ball, which spun a little, and Davies edged it to slip where Tom Haines held a reflex catch to his left. Davies’ 58 – his fifth fifty of the season – included nine fours.
Carson had been expected to bowl from the sea end, where Warwickshire’s off-spinner Corey Rocchiccioli had taken his six wickets, but it was Coles who settled into a long spell up the slope instead. Robinson, hoping his higher release point might disconcert the batters, gave him a brief respite before Coles returned in the 58th over to pick up a second wicket with his third ball back.
Latham, having played well for 69, clipped a ball to short leg, and Dan Ibrahim clung on to the ball at chest height. The New Zealander had batted for more than three hours and looked good for a few more.
At one stage, Coles bowled to a ring of four fielders 15 yards from the bat on the off side before going off halfway through his 21st over. Carson, meanwhile, was into his 31st over before getting a belated reward for his efforts when Zen Malik (44) was caught at leg slip off bat and pad.
When Carson came off, Fynn Hudson-Prentice bowled some off breaks of his own and even opener Dan Hughes turned his arm over before a halt was called.
