Warwickshire eye survival but concerns for future

Lancashire 152 and 28 for 3 need 319 more runs to beat Warwickshire 219 and 279 for 7 dec (Ambrose 59*, Lilley 3-56)Scorecard

Whatever the last day has in store, Warwickshire will have to conclude that this has been a let-down of a season, irrespective of the trophy they brought home from Lord’s last weekend. They began it as a popular choice among the pundits as the team most likely to derail Yorkshire’s bid for a hat-trick of titles, yet have finished it in a relegation scrap with Lancashire.

What’s more, it is a youthful, inexperienced Lancashire, a side in its development stage, several years away from reaching maturity. Perhaps Warwickshire are a little too mature, lacking the mental vigour of youth, the appetite for success perhaps having lost a little of its edge. Seven of the side in action here are the wrong side of 30, with Keith Barker not far away.

Barker’s contribution has been beyond reproach, comprising 608 runs and 60 wickets – his highest haul yet – and Jeetan Patel has underlined his status as the best spinner in the Championship, despite being pressed hard by Somerset’s Jack Leach. Beyond those two, however, there are not many contenders for player of the year.

The new lease of life that Ian Bell perhaps hoped to have drawn from the captaincy has not happened and nor has the England recall of which he retained some hope. Jonathan Trott, about to bare his soul in his new autobiography, has recovered well from his troubled times but not even he could manage 1,000 Championship runs, a milestone well out of reach of everyone else. Sam Hain, the great hope of recent seasons, has taken his overdue chance in white-ball cricket well …

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