Woakes rescues Warks and redeems toss call

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Warwickshire 372 for 9 (Woakes 121, Barker 113, Trott 68) v NottinghamshireScorecard

The hamstring injury to Ian Bell meant that, for the first time, captaining Warwickshire rested on the shoulders on Chris Woakes, who may have felt it was weighing pretty heavily as he made his way out to the middle at 60 for 5. His decision not to bowl first on a mottled pitch came as a surprise to some, possibly including the Nottinghamshire captain.

The word from the home camp was that Chris Read would “probably” have chosen to bowl had the coin fallen in his favour but Woakes had his wish. If he might have been wondering where to look as wickets tumbled during the morning session, the first four with only 17 runs scored, he was happy to engage with anyone in the shadows of the evening as Warwickshire recovered to claim four batting points.

“It’s a tricky one on the first day when the pitch is a little bit green but the sun’s out,” Woakes said. “After an hour maybe it looked like a bad decision but sitting here at 370 for 9 we would have taken that.

“I did feel a bit of responsibility to make some runs myself, although probably no more so than usual. And though it’s my decision to bat, it is a collective thing, with Belly having an input as well, and the management of course.”

His own contribution was 121, which must certainly have reinforced his perception that bat first was the appropriate tactic. It was his first century in a first-class match since March 2014 when, as it happens, he was captaining England Lions against Sri Lanka A in Colombo. Here is a man, it seems, who thrives on responsibility.

His stand for the eighth wicket with the perpetually underrated Keith Barker turned the day around. Barker, who bowled superbly against Somerset at Edgbaston last week, albeit on a pitch subsequently deemed suspect, batted with style and aplomb on …

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