da dobrowin： Victory at Edgbaston would seal title but Warwickshire have plenty to do on excellent batting pitch
da heads bet： ECB Reporters Network23-Sep-2021Warwickshire are one powerful day’s cricket away from lifting the LV=Insurance County Championship title after a strong fightback against Somerset on the third day at Edgbaston.Lancashire’s amazing win over Hampshire at Liverpool has left the Bears with a very simple equation. Victory – but nothing less – over Somerset will bring the title to Edgbaston for the eighth time in the club’s history.The equation is simple, but forcing victory will be a far from simple business for Will Rhodes’ side on an excellent batting pitch. They closed the third day on 179 for 1 – 157 ahead – so need to press on briskly with the bat tomorrow to give themselves time to try to take ten wickets on a batter-friendly surface.If Warwickshire can pull that off against a Somerset side which, to its great credit, has scrapped every inch of the way, they will deserve to be champions.Related
Ben Slater seals five-wicket win over Yorkshire but Notts fall short of Bob Willis final
Sussex rock-bottom as Derbyshire seal first win of season
Smith piles on career-best as Surrey cruise towards high-scoring draw
Adam Lyth serves reminder of Championship's raison d'être as Yorkshire hold Nottinghamshire up
Briggs points Warks towards title on day his value is proven
The title-chasers spent the first two sessions of the third day in the dirt as Somerset, replying to 367, gritted onward from their overnight 239 for 5 to reach 389.The visitors’ head coach Jason Kerr stated the previous evening that “whoever wins the title is going to have to earn it” and his players showed a degree of resolve which matched his words.Steven Davies fell in the second over of the day for 52 when he edged Tim Bresnan to Michael Burgess. Bresnan then struck again when he trapped Craig Overton lbw, though Overton’s two-run stay had eaten up 43 minutes.Somerset’s batting has not over-achieved of late but this time they delivered some important partnerships. After Davies and Lewis Gregory added 60, Gregory and Jack Leach put on 54 and Leach and Josh Davey added 56.On an unforgiving pitch, there was little the depleted Warwickshire attack (without the injured Olly Stone, Olly Hannon-Dalby and Henry Brookes) could do but persevere. The indefatigable Bresnan was the pick, finishing with 3 for 35, supported by Danny Briggs (3 for 77) and Chris Woakes (3 for 100).Trailing by 22, Warwickshire had a session to regain the initiative and fully seized the opportunity. Rob Yates, who made 72 not out from 119 balls, and Dom Sibley, whose 50 took 69 balls and included a pair of sixes, batted enterprisingly to add 119 in 28 overs and Will Rhodes added late impetus with 42 in 29 balls.Together the trio supplied their side with a springboard to a potential victory – and Championship title – tomorrow.”What’s happened at Liverpool has put it back in our hands so now we have got to try and set something up tomorrow and take ten wickets,” Rhodes said. “Fair play to Somerset – they came out and did what they needed to do and took a lot of time out of the game.”The last session has swung it back in our favour a little bit and we are going to have to play well in the morning to come up with a target with a suitable amount of overs that we think we can bowl, them out on.”When you have had 13 and three-quarters games and are still in the hunt for a County Championship, that’s a great feeling. There is a lot of excitement in the dressing room at the minute and we just know that we have all got to make it as hard as possible for Somerset tomorrow.”
