Jim Troughton admits that Warwickshire have “not been consistent enough, pure and simple” in their YB40 campaign this season.
While the Bears aim to challenge hard to retain their county championship title in the coming weeks, their limited-overs efforts this season are already firmly in the “must-do-better” category for 2014.
They will play their last 40-over fixture, at home to Northamponshire next Monday, with only pride to play for – and have a fair bit of that to reclaim after their joyless plod through the YB40 hit a new low with the recent defeat to the Netherlands at Edgbaston. Even a team fielding virtually a second-string bowling attack should have done better than that.
But of most concern to captain Troughton is Warwickshire’s erratic cricket in both limited-overs formats this year when they have been closer (they have rarely been very close) to full strength.
“It has not clicked for us in the shorter formats, we are aware of that,” he said. “The T20 was disappointing and we have already had a good review of that.
“In fact we played better T20 cricket this year than we did in the previous two seasons and I think we have learned a lot from it. So there are positives to take from that.
“But in the 40-over game we have not been consistent enough, pure and simple. We should have beaten Kent very early on which would have given us a springboard and we should have beaten Northamptonshire.
“But we didn’t and if you don’t get a good start in this competition it makes a lot of difference.”
Poor starts in all three formats left Warwickshire playing catch-up in all competitions this season, a big area which needs to be addressed during the winter.
In terms of the longer one-day game, which will revert to 50-overs-per-side in 2014, Troughton needs the team to relocate the impressive form which they have shown at times, but found emphatically elusive at others, in recent years.
“It has an been odd few years for us in 40-over cricket,” he said. “We won the tournament, then had a poor year, then last year got to the final and now this.
“We haven’t shown the consistency you need this season though, to be fair, we haven’t really been able to play the formula we would have liked because of all the injuries and absentees due to England calls we have had to deal with.”
It will be interesting to see the composition of Warwickshire’s one-day side at the start of next season. Some changes will be forced upon it with the retirement of Darren Maddy, ever-increasing England calls and the possible departure of Steffan Piolet.
A major problem this season has been the lack of match-shaping innings from the top-order and one option to address that is the return of Ian Westwood.
Former Bears captain Westwood has played no part in the one-day games this season and figured only fleetingly in the one-day formats over the years. But the left-hander has far from given up on returning to the team in the shorter games.
Next season could bring opportunities with the extra ten overs per innings bringing more scope for top-order batsmen to build an innings without going gung-ho too soon.
A case could be made that Westwood should have featured in this season’s YB40 campaign, which fizzled out almost as soon as it had begun. He certainly has an eye on forcing his way back into the one-day fray next year.
“I have never really found a consistent role in one-day cricket,” Westwood said. “When I first started I was batting anywhere down to number ten and maybe bowling a couple of overs.
“Then I had a go at the top of the order and did okay in the role of batting through the innings. But then Jonathan Trott took that role and invariably it was me that had to give up my wicket.
“When I was captain I did a half-decent job in the middle order so who knows, when it changes back to 50 overs, maybe there will be a slot.”
Westwood’s case for inclusion in the short games would be seriously enhanced if his left-arm spin was to become a credible option as back-up to Jeetan Patel.
The former Moseley player used to bowl a lot of overs for his club and the Bears seconds and has been very occasionally by the firsts used in Twenty20.
But Westwood’s bowling, like that of his fellow Warwickshire product Ian Bell, has atrophied.
“The less you bowl, the harder it is to get thrown the ball by the captain,” he said. “As soon as I was picked for the first team I went from bowling 40 overs a week for Moseley and the 2nd team to bowling hardly at all. “You might sometimes get the ball for a little go at 300 for two or before an interval but that’s about it. Your confidence goes.
“But I’d love to get back in the team in all formats and still feel I could do a half-decent job in the T20s.”
