WARWICKSHIRE CCC eased to a 10-wicket victory against Essex to secure the first win of their County Championship defence at Edgbaston.
Openers Alex Davies (65 from 131 balls) and Dom Sibley (41 from 96 balls) helped Warwickshire to victory on the final day with an unbroken stand of 110 in 37.4 overs.
That came after Essex resumed on the last morning on 290 for 8, with a lead of 73 and were only able to add 33 to that total as they were bowled out for 323 to leave the home side a target of 107 with two sessions left to play.
Concussion substitute Craig Miles ended with figures of 4-85 after taking the final two wickets of the Essex innings after he replaced Liam Norwell who took a short ball to the head.
Miles said: “It was a bizarre way for me to come into the game. Liam is doing okay, which is great to hear, and I certainly didn’t expect to find my way back into the side in this game.
“I just wanted to contribute in any way I can so it was great to get in and have a little partnership with Burgy (Michael Burgess) and watch from the other end while he did his stuff.
“It was nice to get a couple of wickets today because I didn’t pick any up against Surrey. To get those two at the back end was great because Lawrence and Harmer had formed a good partnership and Snater was playing very positively.”
Captain Will Rhodes added: “It was a very professional performance and highlights the strides we have made in the last two years.
“In championship cricket it can be short periods that turn a game. We always say you can’t win a game in a session but you can go a long way to losing it and we went a long way to pushing them out of the game on the first afternoon when we bowled really well.
“Then we batted ourselves into a position of strength. All 12 players contributed! The performance replicated what we did last year, a really good collective effort.
“The Essex game at home last year was our cup final. They are the team that we strive to be like and I think we have taken snippets of the how they play and added them to our game.”
