By Warwickshire’s high standards, the 2023 cricket season was a case of ‘so close yet so far’ for the county. After topping the T20 Blast North table by five points in early July, Warwickshire’s Birmingham Bears fell at the quarter-final stage to Essex in a shock two-wicket loss off the penultimate ball of the match.
Then, at the end of August, after losing just once in the Royal London One-Day Cup group stage, the Group B table topper was dominated by Hampshire in a weather-effected semi-final, losing by nine wickets.
Warwickshire’s County Championship ended with a late-September draw against Somerset at Edgbaston, consigning Mark Robinson’s men to fourth place at the season’s end. As a result, the West Midlands side is still seeking its first silverware in any format since winning the County Championship in 2021.
With new sites emerging every day for fans to place their bets, despite its lack of silverware, Warwickshire is close to topping the betting boards at many bookmakers. In the first-class format, only two-time defending champions Surrey (7/4) top the Birmingham side’s odds of 13/2, with Lancashire drawing the same price from the bookies.
Although betting odds for the Royal London One-Day Cup aren’t yet available, Warwickshire can expect to appear close to the top of the boards thanks to its table-topping group stage performance in the last campaign. In its guise of the Birmingham Bears, the county ranks a close third in the T20 Blast North betting at 9/2, behind Nottinghamshire (3/1) and Lancashire (4/1).
New Club Captain Alex Davies, who replaced long-time skipper Will Rhodes for the new season, will officially lead Warwickshire for the first time when The Bears meet Worcestershire at Edgbaston when the County Championship season begins on 5 April. Warwickshire will play seven rounds of first-class cricket before the T20 Blast takes centre stage on 31 May, with a match against Durham at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street.
The group stage of the T20 Blast continues into the third week of June before the County Championship takes over again for another two rounds of fixtures. The T20 Blast group stage then resumes with the Birmingham Bears visiting Yorkshire at Headingley on 5 July and concludes with a match at Edgbaston against Leicestershire two weeks later.
When Warwickshire’s 2024 Royal London One-Day Cup campaign begins against Essex at Chelmsford’s County Cricket Ground on 24 July, the English cricket season will be in full swing. The Bears will hope for as good a group performance as in 2023, with fans receiving a bonus as three 50-overs games will take place at the famous Rugby School Ground for the first time since 2015.
Warwickshire host Surrey, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire at the venue between 2 and 14 August, after which it’s hoped the team will have qualified for the One-Day Cup’s knockout stages.
Eight days after the Nottinghamshire encounter at Rugby, Warwickshire is back at Edgbaston against Somerset in the County Championship, with the regular season finishing after two more first-class matches, the latter against Worcestershire at New Road, starting on 9 September.
Whether Warwickshire’s season continues after that depends on the county’s progress made in the group stages of the T20 and 50-over competitions. If the betting odds are accurate, there will be plenty of cricket left for Davies and his team to play.
