Injury-hit Falcons are no match for Warwickshire

The Bears piled up 199 for six against the injury-hit Falcons. Opening pair Tom Latham (58, 42 balls) and Alex Davies (49, 29) provided a strong launchpad before the visitors reined the scoring in a little, Pat Brown taking three for 40.

It was more than enough though as the Falcons replied with 141 all out in 19.1 overs. There was no way back from the dire start of 29 for four and their fourth defeat in four duly followed. Ross Whiteley hit 50 (37) and Wayne Madsen 46 (32) but Hasan Ali added four late wickets, including a hat-trick, to his two early ones to finish with six for 23 while George Garton equalled the T20 world record of five catches by a non-wicketkeeper.

Madsen said: "200 looks a lot to chase but Ross and I were able to score at ten an over in the middle period. I don't think it was beyond us but being four down in the powerplay really hurt us. Even if we had been 40 for one or two, wickets in hand would have stood us in good stead for later on and throwing caution to the wind.

"We know we have lost early wickets too many times and have to correct that as a batting unit. We are putting ourselves under pressure and a batting unit and we have spoken about it and are doing all we can to address it.

"I don't think we were fantastic in the field either today. There are parts of the game that are going well but we are not stringing together a proper team performance and we need to do that quickly. We now have three huge games coming up this week. We know we have the abilities as a team to turn things around and it's about backing ourselves and having belief as a team and individuals. In T20 you have just got to back yourself and go for it: the message is be positive and be aggressive."

With Samit Patel failing a fitness test on a calf injury, the Falcons’ squad was at full stretch. Fynn Hudson-Prentice came into the side, signed on a four-game loan from Sussex, but Warwickshire made a flying start after they were put in.

Davies and Latham followed their opening stand of 103 against Yorkshire on Friday with 79 (from 54 balls). Davies hit three sixes and five fours before departing clearly unhappy at being deemed to have gloved an attempted pull at Brown to wicketkeeper Aneurin Donald.

The Falcons fought back well as former Bears spinner Alex Thomson bowled Dan Mousley through a sweep. Latham was adroitly caught by David Lloyd on the long leg boundary, when the fielder threw the ball up to ensure he didn’t carry it over the rope, then stepped forward to catch it again.

Sam Hain swung Hudson-Prentice into the Hollies Stand then tried to do so again but didn’t clear the fielder. Brown cleaned up Ed Barnard and Kai Smith with successive deliveries before important late impetus came from Moeen Ali (33 not out, 17) and Garton who took 12 from the three balls he faced.

Garton was then heavily involved at the Falcons plummeted to 28 for four after four overs. He took a return catch to remove Caleb Jewell with the fifth ball of the innings and took stinging catches at cover from Aneurin Donald and David Lloyd off Barnard and Hasan Ali respectively. Martin Andersson became the third batter in 18 balls to pick out a fielder when he belted Hasan Ali to point.

The top order implosion left Madsen and Whiteley needing to retrench and, while they did, the required rate escalated…the Falcons entered the last ten overs needing 129. Madsen and Whiteley each hit three sixes but perished in pursuit of a fourth, caught in the deep. The latter perished at the start of Hasan Ali’s hat-trick – Whiteley caught at long off, Thomson at mid on and Ben Aitchson, bowled middle stump.