WARWICKSHIRE captain Alex Davies is looking ahead to the Bears’ next County Championship match with Surrey – after their fixture at Essex fizzled out into a draw.
Davies still feels Warwickshire can win the title if they can beat Surrey at the Kia Oval next month.
Any hopes of the Bears’ match at Chelmsford producing a result were effectively over as a contest late on the third evening when Ed Barnard struck the boundary that took Warwickshire past their follow-on target of 453.
The game was called off at 3.25pm with Essex 96 for one.
Davies paid tribute to cenury makets Ethan Bamber – who struck his maiden first-lcass ton – and Barnard, before moving on to the next fixture.
He told the Bears’ official X account: “There are a lot of positives to take, obviously we haven’t won this week, which isn’t great, but we play Surrey next, and if we take them down, then we’re in with a chance of the title.
“Ethan Bamber’s knock was incredible, as was Ed Barnard coming in and steadying the ship, and the scrap from the lower order.”
Tom Westley passed 50 for the fifth time in eight County Championship innings before rain arrived at Chelmsford on Friday to confirm the inevitable draw.
The rejuvenated Essex captain was 51 not out, with seven fours in his 103-ball innings, to follow his 148 first time round.
He had put on 86 in 28 overs with Paul Walter for the second wicket before umbrellas went up and the players scampered for shelter. Walter had contributed 35 to a stand that took Essex’s lead to a nominal 213.
The 14 points Essex gained kept them just ahead of the relegation places in Division One, while Warwickshire’s dozen points mean they are safely in mid-table.
Barnard, meanwhile, gained reward for his overnight effort the morning after when he was left unbeaten on 108 in Warwickshire’s first-innings 485, 117 behind Essex’s 602 for six declared.
The remarkably consistent all-rounder’s 123-ball knock took his season’s tally to 815 runs with three centuries. Matt Critchley’s marathon spell of 40 overs for Essex returned figures of five for 171.
With Dean Elgar absent from the field since day one with a calf injury, Essex promoted Noah Thain to open their second innings. But Essex’s faith in the up-and-coming all-rounder was not fulfilled as Ethan Bamber got one to lift off the pitch and take the outside edge with only two against his name.
Westley drove his first ball for four, but was fortunate when he reached 19 that a diving Kai Smith could not cling on to a catch in Beau Webster’s first over.
Westley reached his fifty from 103 balls, clipping Hannon-Dalby past an unusual legside field comprising six fielders in a semi-circle between short mid-on and square leg. It turned out to be the last meaningful action before rain set in at 14:25.
Walter had been comparatively subdued at the other end, though he did strike two boundaries in the last over before lunch that brought up the fifty partnership from a leisurely 18 overs.
Barnard, 90 not out overnight, had become the game’s fifth century-maker when he swept Critchley for four from the 114th ball he faced. He had already launched the leg-spinner over midwicket for six during the 23 minutes that Warwickshire’s first innings extended into the fourth morning.
Oliver Hannon-Dalby had kept Barnard company the previous evening when the ninth-wicket pair ensured Warwickshire moved safely beyond the follow-on mark.
He remained unfazed for 27 balls in total, 15 in the morning, before Westley introduced his occasional off-breaks and had the number 11 lbw with his fourth delivery.
• Additional reporting supplied by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay.
