There was a time, not so long ago, when batsmen visiting Edgbaston would drool in anticipation. Not any more.
George Dobell at Edgbaston04-Jun-2010
ScorecardThere was a time, not so long ago, when batsmen visiting Edgbaston would drool in anticipation. The slow, flat pitches promised a chance to fill their boots and, between the start of 2007 and the end of 2009, only five championship matches here ended in an outright result as sides found it well nigh impossible to claim 20 wickets.Not any more. Edgbaston is a ground transformed. No side has taken maximum bonus batting bonus points here this season and, judging by the evidence of the first day of this match, they’re not about to start.While Somerset’s first innings total of 268 might appear, from a glance at the scorecard, a modest total, it is likely to prove highly competitive. The pitch is offering assistance to bowlers of all types, with Warwickshire’s seamers achieving steepling bounce and their spinners gaining sharp turn and bounce. Batting, at times, was very difficult indeed.Some made it appear more difficult than others, however. Arul Suppiah laboured for 96 minutes and 56 deliveries over his two runs – his dismissal in the 24th over was cricket’s version of a mercy killing – while Jos Buttler (17 balls) was little more fluent.Others, however, coped more easily. Marcus Trescothcik, after a sticky start, produced some characteristically thumping drives, while James Hildreth underlined the impression that he has taken a step forward this season. Looking compact and solid, yet unleashing some rasping square cuts, Hildreth passed 50 for the sixth time in his last seven championship innings. Craig Kisewetter, Peter Trego and Alfonso Thomas also weighed in with useful contributions.Somerset also benefited from Warwickshire’s profligacy in the field. Depending on your level of generosity, the hosts spurned at least half-a-dozen chances, with young keeper Richard Johnson responsible for half of them.Johnson, only 21 and playing just his second championship match, understandably struggled. He can rarely, if ever, have kept to a legspinner of Imran Tahir’s class and this dry pitch was hardly the easiest training ground. No doubt he will improve for the experience. It was a reminder, however, of how much Warwickshire miss Tim Ambrose. Or an in-from Tim Ambrose, anyway.As things stand, it appears that Ambrose is on his way out of Edgbaston. Out of contract at the end of the season, he is currently unable to maintain a place in the team after averaging just 11.63 with the bat in championship cricket.Rather than playing for the seconds, he has been given time off to clear his head and take stock. Already Hampshire have issued an official 28-day notice of approach and it is likely that other counties will follow. It seems hard to believe that it was just 15 months ago that he was playing, with some success, for the Test team in the Caribbean.None of Johnson’s reprieves were hugely costly. But, on a pitch where Trescothick reasoned that 250 was a good score and on which batting will only grow more difficult, they could prove crucial. Zander de Bruyn, on 12, was missed off an outside edge off the bowling of Woakes, before Kieswetter should have been stumped off Tahir when he had just seven. Trego, on 14, was also missed off the impressive Ant Botha.Johnson was not the only culprit. Varun Chopra, at midwicket, put down Trescothick on 32, off Maddy’s first ball, while Tahir missed a hard caught-and-bowled opportunity offered by Kartik and Rikki Clarke, at slip, put down a fiendishly tricky chance offered by Thomas off Botha.Clarke more than made amends with the ball, however. Bowling admirably straight and with some venom, he was easily the pick of the Warwickshire seamers and fully deserved to be handed the second new ball. After promising much but delivering little as a bowler for some years, there are now signs that Clarke – in tandem with Warwickshire’s new bowling coach, Graeme Welch – is beginning to harness his undoubted ability.Here he dislodged Suppiah, who had taken a stinging blow to the helmet from a Boyd Rankin bouncer, with a short ball that reared on the batsmen, before Buttler edged a similar delivery to slip and Trescothick was drawn into feeling for one angled across him. At the time Clarke had figures of 3 for 3.Botha was, perhaps surprisingly, the more potent of Warwickshire’s spinners. He dismissed Hildreth, trying to withdraw his bat, with an unplayable delivery that bounced and turned sharply, before Kieswetter and Phillips were caught at short leg as they struggled to nullify the spin. The wicket of Hildreth was his 300th in the first-class game.Botha also took a fine catch at deep mid-wicket to dismiss Trego, who was slog-sweeping, before Woakes returned to wrap-up the tail. Given the spinners’ success, however, it was something of a surprise that Westwood did not call them into the attack until the 50th (Imran) and 63rd (Botha) overs.Warwickshire faced only 16 deliveries before stumps, but it was enough to suggest they face a torrid examination on day two. Their first innings scores in their last three games (113 against Lancashire, 127 against Somerset and 100 against Durham) don’t exactly inspire confidence, so when Ian Westwood was caught at gully, trying to avoid a short ball that climbed on him from Charl Willoughby, it brought a familiar groan from the Edgbaston faithful. It will be a surprise if this match reaches a fourth day.