Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

. Its T20 team is called the Birmingham Bears. Founded in 1882, the club held minor status until it was elevated to first-class in 1894 pending its entry into the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

in 1895. Since then, Warwickshire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. Warwickshire's kit colours are black and gold and the shirt sponsor is Gullivers Sports Travel. The club's home is

Edgbaston Cricket Ground Edgbaston Cricket Ground, also known as the County Ground or Edgbaston Stadium, is a cricket ground in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham, England. It is home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club and its T20 team Birmingham Bears. Edgbaston has ...

in south

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, which regularly hosts

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

and

One-Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World Cup ...

matches.

Honours

First XI honours

(8) –

1911 A notable ongoing event was the race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * ...

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

:''Division Two'' (2) –

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

* Gillette/NatWest/C&G/

Friends Provident Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. La ...

(5) –

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * J ...

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

* Sunday/Pro 40 League/

CB40 The ECB40, last known as the Yorkshire Bank 40 (YB40) for sponsorship reasons, was a forty-over limited overs cricket competition for the English first-class counties. It began in the 2010 English cricket season as a replacement for the Pro40 ...

Royal London One-Day Cup The Royal London One-Day Cup is a fifty-over limited overs cricket competition for the England and Wales first-class counties. It began in 2014 as a replacement for the ECB 40 tournament, which ran from 2010 to 2013. In contrast to its 40-ov ...

(5) –

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

, 1994,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

:''Division Two'' (1) –

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

Benson & Hedges Cup The Benson & Hedges Cup was a one-day cricket competition for first-class counties in England and Wales that was held from 1972 to 2002, one of cricket's longest sponsorship deals. It was the third major one-day competition established in Englan ...

(2) – 1994,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

NatWest t20 Blast The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

(1) –

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

* Bob Willis Trophy (1) –

Second XI honours

Second XI Championship The Second XI Championship is a season-long cricket competition in England that is competed for by the reserve teams of those county cricket clubs that have first-class status. The competition started in 1959 and has been contested annually ever ...

(2) – 1979, 1996 * Second XI Trophy (1) – 2006 *

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

(2) – 1959, 1962

Earliest cricket

Cricket may have reached Warwickshire by the end of the 17th century. The ''Warwickshire & Staffordshire Journal'' was certainly aware of the sport in 1738 for it carried a report of a

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

v Mitcham game at the

Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is an open space originally set aside for archery and later known also as a cricket venue. Today it is used for military exercises, cricket, rugby and football matches. It belongs to the Honourable Artillery Com ...

on 11 August (London won by 1 wicket). The earliest confirmed reference to cricket in the county is a match announcement in ''Aris’ Gazette'' on 15 July 1751. There was a prominent club in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

towards the end of the 18th century which played two well-documented matches against

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

in 1787 and 1788. Reports of both games are included in ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'' by

G. B. Buckley George Bent Buckley (1885 – 26 April 1962) was an English surgeon and a celebrated cricket historian and an authority on the early days of the game. Buckley was born in Saddleworth, Yorkshire, the son of Arthur and Jane Buckley, his fathe ...

. Leicester won both games by 45 and 28 runs respectively.

Club history

Warwickshire CCC was officially founded on 8 April 1882 at a meeting in

The Regent Hotel The Regent Hotel is a hotel in the town of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England. It is located in the centre of the town on the Parade. History In 1809, a plot of land was purchased to build the hotel on, which cost £1,000. The foundation ...

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

. The club developed so well that by the time of the first official

in 1890 it was playing some of the top first-class counties such as

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. Warwickshire became first-class themselves in 1894 and surprised the cricket world with wins over Surrey at

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

and Nottinghamshire. They competed in the County Championship from 1895 but despite being strong in batting, their bowling was, until the arrival of Sam Hargreave and Frank Field in 1899, very weak. From 1900 to 1906 they were strong enough to be in the upper-middle reaches of the table, but the decline of their bowling from 1907 returned them to the lower reaches of the table late in that decade. Frank Foster, who first played as an amateur left-arm pace bowler in 1908 but improved greatly in 1910 as a result of slowing his pace to gain accuracy, still stands as Warwickshire's greatest

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

. In 1911 he headed both batting and bowling averages and, along with a fully fit Frank Field, enabled Warwickshire to take the Championship from the "Big Six" for the only time between 1890 and 1935. Foster and Field took between then 238 wickets, but in ''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' nobody doubted that Warwickshire's win was largely caused by an abnormally dry summer, and the following three years saw them return to mid-table although Foster in 1914 displayed all-round form equal to that of 1911. In 1919, with Foster having had an accident that ended his short career, Warwickshire fell to last in the table. They did not improve a great deal until the 1930s when Bob Wyatt's captaincy and the bowling of Mayer, Paine and Hollies moved them to fourth in 1934, but as Paine rapidly declined, they fell away. When Wyatt left for

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, they declined even further despite Hollies' wonderful bowling in 1946 – with no support at all, he took 175 wickets for only 15 each. The acquisition of New Zealand speedster Tom Pritchard gave Hollies the necessary support and by 1948 they had one of the strongest attacks in county cricket. It was this bowling power, along with effective, if not wonderful batting, that gave them the Championship in 1951. However, as with 1911, they fell off rapidly as their batting became unreliable over the rest of the decade. After Hollies' retirement in 1957, there were some very poor seasons (though they came fourth in 1959 due to Mike Smith's superb batting) until Tom Cartwright emerged as a top-class

seam bowler Seam bowling is a bowling technique in cricket whereby the ball is deliberately bowled on to its seam, to cause a random deviation when the ball bounces. Practitioners are known as ''seam bowlers'' or seamers. Seam bowling is generally classed ...

in 1962. The county came second in 1964 but did not establish itself at the top until the late 1960s. In 1971 Lance Gibbs' magnificent bowling enabled them to come second, whilst brilliant batting gave them a clear Championship win in 1972. Yet again, though, a Championship win was followed by a decline and the next twenty years saw the county almost always in the lower half of the table. In 1981 and 1982, with

Bob Willis Robert George Dylan Willis (born Robert George Willis; 30 May 1949 – 4 December 2019) was an English cricketer, who represented England between 1971 and 1984. A right-handed fast bowler, Willis is regarded by many as one of the greatest fa ...

doing nothing for them whilst producing match-winning form for England, they averaged over 45 runs for each wicket they took – still a record. Only under the coaching of

Bob Woolmer Robert Andrew Woolmer (14 May 1948 – 18 March 2007) was an English cricket coach, cricketer, and a Sportscaster, commentator. He played in 19 Test cricket, Test matches and six One Day Internationals for the England cricket team and later coach ...

and captaincy of

Dermot Reeve Dermot Alexander Reeve OBE (born 2 April 1963) is an English former cricketer, best known as an unorthodox all-rounder and captain and, most recently, coach of the New Zealand side, Central Districts. Reeve played in three Tests and 29 One Day ...

(with their allowed foreign player being one of

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely acknowledged as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions and holds several cricketing rec ...

Shaun Pollock Shaun Maclean Pollock OIS (born 16 July 1973) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer, who was captain in all formats of the game. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers and allrounders of all time. A genu ...

Allan Donald Allan Anthony Donald (born 20 October 1966) is a South African former cricketer who is also the current bowling coach of Bangladesh national cricket team. Often nicknamed 'White Lightning' due to his lightning quick bowling, he is considered ...

) did the team become ''consistently'' successful. Although they had won the

NatWest Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. La ...

in 1989, it was their astonishing victory in the same competition in 1993, overhauling a record score posted by Sussex in the final, which launched their most dominant period in English cricket. In 1994 they secured a historic treble, winning the

, Axa Equity & Law League (later the National Cricket League and

Pro40 The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on days ...

) and

. In that season Lara set the world record for a

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

score of 501 whilst playing for Warwickshire against

Durham County Cricket Club Durham County Cricket Club (rebranded as Durham Cricket in February 2019) is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Durham. Founded in 1882, D ...

; the team total of 810–4 declared in that match is also a club record. In 1995 they won the County Championship again, and also won the

C&G Trophy The Friends Provident Trophy was a one-day cricket competition in the United Kingdom. It was one of the four tournaments in which the eighteen first-class counties competed each season. They were joined by teams from Scotland and Ireland. La ...

. This was to be the last trophy of Dermot Reeve's captaincy with him stepping down during the 1996 season, Bob Woolmer also having moved on to coach South Africa. 1997 saw them lifting the AXA league trophy once again, but this proved to be a false dawn. Performances for the next few years were poor, including relegation to the second division of the County Championship and National Cricket leagues. However they have since been promoted in both competitions (though relegated again in the National Cricket League), won the Benson & Hedges Cup in 2002 and strong performances with the bat saw the county reclaim the

in 2004. Warwickshire were once again promoted in the national cricket league and played in the top division of both competitions in 2006. Until the year 2005, the club captain was Nick Knight, the coach was John Inverarity, and the Chief Executive was Dennis Amiss, though all three stepped down at the end of the season.

Heath Streak Heath Hilton Streak (born 16 March 1974) is a former Zimbabwean cricketer and cricket coach who played for and captained the Zimbabwe national cricket team. By his statistical record, he is the best bowler to have played for Zimbabwe. He is the ...

was appointed as captain for the 2006 and 2007 seasons, but resigned after one game of the 2007 season on 25 April 2007, and

Darren Maddy Darren Lee Maddy (born 23 May 1974) is an English former professional cricketer who played for Leicestershire and Warwickshire County Cricket Clubs and for the England cricket team. Maddy made three Test match, eight One Day International (OD ...

replaced Streak as captain. The 2007 Championship season was a big disaster for Warwickshire, who were relegated to Division Two, after not winning a single game since they topped the table in early May. They also got relegated from Pro40 league, a matter made worse when local rivals

Worcestershire CCC Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded ...

clinched the title. Since the end of the disastrous 2007 season, Warwickshire made several changes to the team and management staff. Controversial coach

Mark Greatbatch Mark John Greatbatch (born 11 December 1963) is a former New Zealand international cricketer. He scored more than 2,000 runs in his 41 Test matches for New Zealand. A left-handed batsman and very occasional right-arm medium pace bowler in firs ...

was sacked and

Ashley Giles Ashley Fraser Giles (born 19 March 1973) is a former English first-class cricketer, who played 54 Test matches and 62 One Day Internationals for England before being forced to retire due to a recurring hip injury. Giles played the entirety of ...

replaced him as Director of Cricket. Former Warwickshire Bear and South Africa international

joined the Bears' coaching staff. Fans favourite

Dougie Brown Douglas Robert Brown (born 29 October 1969) is a Scottish former cricketer and former head coach of the United Arab Emirates national team. Brown represented the Scottish national team as an all-rounder at One Day International (ODI) and T ...

also took up an Academy Coaching role. After a successful campaign in Division 2, the Bears were promoted back to the top flight after only a season's absence in September 2008. Maddy stepped down from the captaincy in November 2008. Ian Westwood was announced as his replacement. In 2009 Indian seamer Sreesanth replaced

Jeetan Patel Jeetan Shashi Patel (born 7 May 1980) is a former New Zealand international cricketer. A right arm off spin bowler, he plays for Wellington in New Zealand and Warwickshire in England. He is also the spin bowling coach for the England cricke ...

, who was busy with national duties for

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

, to become the first Indian to join the club. Westwood, in turn, stepped down as captain at the end of the 2010 season.

Jim Troughton Jamie Oliver Troughton (born 2 March 1979) is an English cricket coach and former cricketer. He is currently Assistant Coach at Surrey, and as a player was mainly an attack-minded left-handed batsman and an occasional slow left-arm orthodox bow ...

took over as captain shortly after, before struggling with injury during the 2014 season.

Varun Chopra Varun Chopra (born 21 June 1987) is an English former cricketer who captained the English U-19 cricket team in series against Sri Lanka in 2005 and India in 2006. Chopra attended Ilford County High School and played for Ilford Cricket Club. In ...

stood in before Troughton retired from first-class cricket in 2015, promoting Chopra to permanent captain. Early in 2016, Varun Chopra resigned the captaincy in order to focus on batting, with

Ian Bell Ian Ronald Bell (born 11 April 1982) is an English former cricketer who played international cricket in all formats for the England cricket team and county cricket for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. A right-handed higher/middle order batsm ...

taking over as captain. At the end of the 2016 season despite winning the Royal London Cup earlier in the season, Director of Cricket Dougie Brown was replaced by Jim Troughton as Head Coach with former Director of Cricket Ashley Giles returning to Edgbaston to take responsibility for all cricket associated with Warwickshire. Bell resigned as captain on 20 August 2017.

Twenty20 Cup history

2003 Warwickshire's first-ever game in Twenty20 cricket was against Somerset at Taunton, where the Bears defeated the Sabres by 19 runs. This result was followed by wins over Worcestershire (by 20 runs), Glamorgan (by 68 runs), and Northamptonshire (by 54 runs). Gloucestershire, who finished first in the division, were the only team to beat the Bears when they won by 8 wickets at Edgbaston. This meant that Warwickshire finished second in the Midlands, West and Wales Division behind Gloucestershire, and qualified for the finals day as the best runner-up. The finals day was held on 19 July at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Warwickshire met Leicestershire in their semi-final, who they defeated by 7 wickets, with Trevor Penney top-scoring for the Bears with 43 runs. Surrey claimed victory over Gloucestershire in their semi-final to set up a Surrey-Warwickshire final. Unfortunately, Warwickshire were unable to perform in the final and only scored 115 runs. Surrey managed to score 119 runs in just 11 overs and claimed victory. 2004 With expectations high at Edgbaston, Warwickshire entertained Somerset in the first clash of the 2004 season. The Bears secured victory by 7 wickets. After Warwickshire lost to Glamorgan (by 26 runs), things started to look bad for the Bears. Defeats against Worcestershire (by 3 wickets), and Northamptonshire (by 4 wickets), left the team in danger of not qualifying for the Quarter-Finals, but victory over Gloucestershire (by 2 wickets) on the last day, meant that Warwickshire qualified as one of the best third-placed team. The Bears drew Glamorgan in the quarter-finals. Although they had managed to beat Glamorgan at Cardiff once, Warwickshire were not able to achieve victory again, and lost by 5 wickets to the Dragons, who progressed to the finals day, and eventually went out to the 2004 victors, the Leicestershire Foxes. 2005 With changes to the format for the 2005 season, Warwickshire now had to play 8 games in the group stage to qualify. Their first game of the season was against Worcestershire at New Road, where the Bears lost by only 1 run. This was followed by defeats to Northamptonshire (by 38 runs), and another 1-run defeat to Worcestershire. Warwickshire secured qualification from the MMW division in second after victories over Glamorgan (by 20 runs and by 4 runs) Somerset (by 47 runs) Northamptonshire (by 41 runs), and a no-result against Gloucestershire. Warwickshire bowed out of the competition in the quarter-final to Surrey. After sharing a nail-biting draw (Surrey 149 (20 Overs), Warwickshire 115 (15 Overs)), a bowl off followed, with Surrey claiming victory 4–3. Surrey would go on to be defeated in the Semi-Final to Lancashire, who themselves lost in the final to Somerset. 2006 Warwickshire started the 2006 season by playing Northamptonshire at the County Ground, Northampton where the Bears won by 24 runs. This was followed by wins over Somerset (by 7 wickets), Northampton (by 20 runs), Worcestershire (by 11 runs); defeats to Glamorgan (by 6 wickets), Gloucestershire (by 3 runs), Worcestershire (by 4 runs), and a no-result against Glamorgan. Warwickshire secured third position in the table, but their record was worse than both Yorkshire and Kent (who both finished third in their respected leagues), so did not qualify for the quarter-final. The final's day was once again controlled by Leicestershire, who beat Nottinghamshire in a spectacular final that lasted to the last over of the game. 2007 Warwickshire recruited the services of twice winner, and Twenty20 expert Darren Maddy for the 2007 season, and his expertise helped the team to once again reach the quarter-finals of the competition. The Bears started with a victory over Somerset by 7 runs. This was followed by wins against Glamorgan (by 3 runs and by 9 runs) Northamptonshire (by 12 runs), Gloucestershire (by 27 runs), defeats against Northamptonshire (by 4 wickets), Worcestershire (by 13 runs), and no results against Worcestershire. The Bears qualified as the MMW leaders, with 11 points from 8 games. In the quarter-final, Warwickshire hosted Lancashire in an entertaining game. After Lancashire set the Bears 194 to win, Warwickshire were able to claw back to 187 for 7, and lost by 7 runs. It was Lancashire who would go through to face Gloucestershire, Sussex, and Kent on the Finals day, held at Edgbaston in August. 2012 Warwickshire finished fourth of six teams in the Midlands/Wales/West division, failing to make the quarter-finals. 2013 Warwickshire finished fourth of six teams in the Midlands/Wales/West division, failing to make the quarter-finals. After the season, Warwickshire changed their name to Birmingham Bears for T20 competitions. The Bears has been synonymous with the team for many years and will continue to play under the Warwickshire banner in the other two competitions. 2014 The Birmingham Bears came fourth in the North Group (behind Lancashire Lightning, Nottinghamshire Outlaws and Worcestershire Rapids) to qualify for the knockout stages. They faced Essex in the quarter-finals which they won by 19 Runs, to reach finals day at their home ground. On Finals Day, having beaten Surrey in the semi-final, they went on to beat Lancashire by 4 runs to win their first T20 title.

List of captains

Players

Current squad

* No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt. * denotes players with international caps. * denotes a player who has been awarded a

county cap In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

Notable Warwickshire players

England * Dennis Amiss * Bob Barber *

Tom Cartwright Thomas William Cartwright (22 July 1935 – 30 April 2007) was an English cricketer. Playing largely for Somerset and Warwickshire, he took over 1,600 wickets as a medium-pace bowler, though he began his career as a top-order batsman, and wa ...

* Frank Foster *

Eric Hollies William Eric Hollies (5 June 1912 – 16 April 1981) was an English cricketer, who is mainly remembered for taking the wicket of Donald Bradman for a duck in Bradman's final Test match innings, in which he needed only four runs for a Test aver ...

* John Jameson * Nick Knight *

Dick Lilley Arthur Frederick Augustus Lilley (28 November 1866 – 17 November 1929), variously known as Dick Lilley or A. A. Lilley, was an English professional cricketer who played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club from 1888 to 1911, and in 35 Test ma ...

* Tim Munton * George Paine * Willie Quaife *

Boyd Rankin William Boyd Rankin (born 5 July 1984) is a Northern Irish former cricketer who played international cricket for Ireland, and briefly also played for England. He is a right-arm medium-fast bowler. He is the brother of fellow cricketer David Ra ...

* Gladstone Small * A. C. Smith *

M. J. K. Smith Michael John Knight Smith , better known as M. J. K. Smith or Mike Smith, (born 30 June 1933) is an English former cricketer who was captain of Oxford University Cricket Club (1956), Warwickshire County Cricket Club (1957–1967) and ...

* Neil Smith * Paul Smith *

Tiger Smith Ernest James "Tiger" Smith (6 February 1886 – 31 August 1979) was an English wicket-keeper who played in 11 Tests from 1911/1912 to 1914. In county cricket, he had a much longer career as the successor to Dick Lilley: he played for Warwicks ...

Dick Spooner Richard Thompson Spooner (30 December 1919 – 20 December 1997) was an English cricketer who played for Warwickshire and England. A latecomer who did not play first-class cricket until he was 28, Spooner was a quick-witted left-handed batsman ...

Jonathan Trott Ian Jonathan Leonard Trott (born 22 April 1981) is a South African-born English former professional cricketer who played international cricket for the England cricket team. Domestically, he played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club as well as ...

Chris Woakes Christopher Roger Woakes (born 2 March 1989) is an English cricketer who plays internationally for England in all formats. In domestic cricket, he represents Warwickshire, and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues, including for Kolkata Knigh ...

* R. E. S. Wyatt India *

S. Sreesanth Shanthakumaran Nair Sreesanth (, born 6 February 1983) is an Indian former cricketer and film actor who played all forms of the game. He is a right-arm fast-medium-pace bowler and a right-handed tail-ender batsman. In first class cricket, he p ...

Hanuma Vihari Gade Hanuma Vihari (born 13 October 1993) is an Indian international cricketer who has played for Indian cricket team. He currently plays for Andhra and captains them in Ranji Trophy. Vihari was a member of India that won test series in Austra ...

Ireland * William Porterfield *

Mark Adair Mark Richard Adair (born 27 March 1996) is an Irish international cricketer from Northern Ireland, currently playing for Northern Knights in domestic cricket. He has played county cricket in England for Warwickshire County Cricket Club. He is a ...

Kenya *

Collins Obuya Collins Omondi Obuya (born 27 July 1981) is a Kenyan cricketer and a former captain of Kenyan cricket team. He is a right-handed batsman and leg spin bowler. He came to prominence in the 2003 Cricket World Cup where he was one of Kenya's major ...

New Zealand * Martin Donnelly *

Brendon McCullum Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer representing New Zealand, who played all formats, including as captain. McCullum was renowned for his quick scoring, notably recording the f ...

* Tom Pritchard *

Roger Twose Roger Graham Twose (born 17 April 1968) is an English-born former cricketer, who played 16 Test matches and 87 One Day Internationals for New Zealand in the mid-1990s. In February 2021, Twose was appointed as the director of New Zealand Cri ...

Daniel Vettori Daniel Luca Vettori (born 27 January 1979) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer who played for the New Zealand national cricket team. He was the 200th player to win their Test cricket cap for New Zealand. Vettori was the younge ...

Pakistan *

Younis Khan Mohammad Younis Khan PP SI (Urdu: ; Pashto: ; born 29 November 1977) is a Pakistani professional cricket coach and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all three formats of the game, and is widely regarded as ...

Waqar Younis Waqar Younis Maitla HI (Punjabi, ur, ; born 16 November 1971) is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer who captained Pakistan national cricket team. A right-arm fast bowler, Waqar Younis is regarded as one of the great ...

Mohammad Yousuf Mohammad Yusuf, Muhammad Yousuf and other spellings, may refer to: Politicians * Mohammad Yusuf (politician), prime minister and foreign minister of Afghanistan * Mohammad Yousef, a governor of Daykundi of Province, Afghanistan * Muhammad Yusuf ...

Scotland *

Navdeep Poonia Navdeep Singh Poonia (born 11 May 1986) is a Scottish cricket player. He is a right-handed batsman and right-arm medium fast bowler. He has played One Day Internationals for Scotland, and was selected for his country for the 2007 Cricket World C ...

South Africa *

Dale Steyn Dale Willem Steyn (; born 27 June 1983) is a South African former professional cricketer who played for the South African Cricket Team. He is often regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time and the best Test bowler of his generat ...

Imran Tahir Mohammad Imran Tahir ( pa, ; born 27 March 1979) is a South African former international cricketer. A spin bowler who predominantly bowls googlies and a right-handed batsman, Tahir played for South Africa in all three forms of cricket, but ...

* Monde Zondeki Sri Lanka *

Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and ...

West Indies *

Shivnarine Chanderpaul Shivnarine "Shiv" Chanderpaul (born 16 August 1974) is a Guyanese cricket coach and former captain of the West Indies cricket team. Considered one of the greatest batsmen of his era, Chanderpaul is the first Indo-Caribbean to play 100 Tests fo ...

* Lance Gibbs *

Alvin Kallicharran Alvin Isaac Kallicharran (born 21 March 1949) is a former Indo-Guyanese cricketer of Tamil origin who played Test cricket for the West Indies between 1972 and 1981 as a left-handed batsman and right-arm off spinner. Kallicharran was born ...

Rohan Kanhai Rohan Babulal Kanhai (born 26 December 1935) is a Guyanese former cricketer of Tamil Indo-Guyanese origin , who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai fea ...

* Deryck Murray Zimbabwe *

For a full list of Warwickshire players see

List of Warwickshire CCC players This is a list in alphabetical order of cricketers who have played for Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Warwickshire in top-class matches since 1894. Founded in 1882, the club held minor status until it was classified as an ''unofficial'' first ...

Records

First-class runs

Qualification: at least 20,000 runs

First-class wickets

Qualification: at least 1,000 wickets

Other records

;Notes #

's 501 * in 1994 is a current world record.

Birmingham Bears

Birmingham Bears are a T20

team located in

, founded as Warwickshire Bears in 2003 and rebranded as Birmingham Bears in 2014. They are a part of Warwickshire County Cricket Club and play at

in the

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family ...

area of

. They have won one

Natwest T20 Blast The T20 Blast, currently named the Vitality Blast for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket competition for English and Welsh first-class counties. The competition was established by the England and Wales Cricket Board (E ...

, the 2014 t20 Blast, beating

Lancashire Lightning Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in English cricket. The club has held first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's home is Old Trafford Cricket Ground, although the team also play ...

in the final at

. Their playing squad and coaching staff are the same as the Warwickshire first-class and List A team, although an additional overseas player is granted for the T20 Blast. Under the guidance of

and captained by

Birmingham won 7 of their 14 group games, finishing fourth in the North Group and qualifying for the quarter-finals. In the quarter-finals they defeated

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

by 19 runs, qualifying for Finals Day. In their Finals Day semi-final, they defeated

by 16 runs, setting up a final with

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

. In the Final they defeated Lancashire by 4 runs, securing them their first

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

title. The overseas players were

Shoaib Malik Shoaib Malik (Punjabi, ur, ; born 1 February 1982) is a Pakistani cricketer who plays for the Pakistan national cricket team and currently plays for Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). He was the captain of the Pakistan national ...

and

, who finished the season as leading wicket-taker with 25 wickets. This season captained by

Birmingham won 10 of their 14 group games, finishing top of the North Group and qualifying for the quarter-finals. Once again they met Essex in the quarter-finals, defeating them again by 24 runs. At Finals Day however they lost their semi-final to

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...

who would go on to win the title. Jeetan Patel returned as an overseas player, but was this year joined by fellow New Zealander

. The Bears also set the highest team score of the competition, scoring 242/2 against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in the group stages, with McCullum scoring 158 not out in this game. Once again under a new captain in

Birmingham performed poorly, finishing sixth in the North Group winning just 6 of their 14 games. Jeetan Patel returned as overseas player for a third season, this year joined by wicketkeepers

Luke Ronchi Luke Ronchi ( ; born 23 April 1981) is a New Zealand-Australian cricket coach and a former cricketer. He represented both the Australia national cricket team and New Zealand national cricket team in international cricket. Ronchi is the only pla ...

and

Matthew Wade Matthew Scott Wade (born 26 December 1987) is an Australian cricketer. He has represented the Australian national team as wicket-keeper and batsman in all three forms of international cricket. He plays domestic cricket for the Tasmanian cricke ...

who both played half the tournament each. Under new leadership for the fourth season, this time by former New Zealand international

Grant Elliott Grant David Elliott (born 21 March 1979) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. Primarily a batting all-rounder, Elliott contributed a man of the match performance to provide entrance to New Zealand's first ever ...

and new coaching in former player

the Bears improved on their previous season, winning 8 of their 14 group games, finishing third in the North Group qualifying them for the quarter-finals. In the quarter-final they met Surrey defeating them by 6 wickets in a high-scoring game, qualifying them for Finals Day. In the semi-final they met

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Mot ...

, winning by 11 runs qualifying them for the Final. However, they lost the final to

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

by 22 runs. Patel returned as overseas player for a fourth season, this year joined by

Colin de Grandhomme Colin de Grandhomme (born 22 July 1986) is a former Zimbabwean-born New Zealand international cricketer. Early, domestic and T20 career Born in Harare, de Grandhomme, who attended St. George's College, Harare, began his career by playing for ...

, with captain Elliott qualifying as a Kolpak player due to being born in South Africa. Under the same captain and same coaching, with the same overseas players, the Bears missed out on the quarter-finals for just the second time in their history, winning just 6 of their 14 group games. Former England international

though finished as third top run-scorer, finishing the season with 580 runs from his 14 games.

Notes

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

Harry Altham Harry Surtees Altham (30 November 1888 – 11 March 1965) was an English cricketer who became an important figure in the game as an administrator, historian and coach. His ''Wisden'' obituary described him as "among the best known personalities ...

, ''A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914)'', George Allen & Unwin, 1962. *

Derek Birley Sir Derek Birley (31 May 1926 – 14 May 2002) was a distinguished English educationalist and a prize-winning writer on the social history of sport, particularly cricket. Life and career Born in a mining community in West Yorkshire, Birley attend ...

, ''A Social History of English Cricket'', Aurum, 1999. *

Rowland Bowen Major Rowland Francis Bowen (27 February 1916 – 4 September 1978) was a British Army officer and a cricket researcher, historian and writer. Educated at Westminster School, Bowen received an emergency commission in April 1942 into the In ...

, ''Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development'', Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970. *

Roy Webber Roy Webber (died 14 November 1962 aged 48) was a British cricket scorer and statistician. After World War II, in which he served with the Royal Air Force, he decided to turn what had been his hobby into his profession. He had the necessary profi ...

, ''The Playfair Book of Cricket Records'', Playfair Books, 1951. *

Playfair Cricket Annual ''Playfair Cricket Annual'' is a compact annual about cricket that is published in the United Kingdom each April, just before the English cricket season is due to begin. It has been published every year since 1948. Its main purposes are to revie ...

– various editions. *

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

– various editions. * Warwickshire County Cricket Club Yearbook – various editions (esp. 2004).

External links

Official site for Warwickshire CCC

Official site for Birmingham Bears

Cricinfo's Warwickshire Section
{{Warwickshire County Cricket Club seasons Cricket clubs established in 1882 English first-class cricket teams Sport in Birmingham, West Midlands History of Warwickshire 1882 establishments in England