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Warwickshire desperate to make amends

The Warwickshire Bears will come under scrutiny on and off the pitch when they take on Northamptonshire in their final home Twenty20 Cup group match at Edgbaston this evening.

Warwickshire need to win the game if they are to keep alive their already slim hopes of progressing to the quarterfinals in two weeks' time.

They began their Twenty20 campaign with a victory at Northampton two weeks ago but have since managed only one more victory, against Somerset at Taunton.

They have lost all three of their home group matches to date with Friday's reverse against Worcestershire in front of a 15,000 crowd being their sixth straight loss in all cricket at Edgbaston.

Understandably, their supporters are growing restless and the mood on the terraces was not improved by the farcical circumstances in which Friday's game was played.

Warwickshire were unfortunate that a power cut midway through the Worcestershire innings knocked out both electronic scoreboards.

But there were no excuses for the spasmodic and inadequate score update service provided by the public address announcers. It meant that spectators in Warwickshire's biggest county crowd of the season had little idea of what was happening in the middle for three-quarters of the game.

It was a huge embarrassment for a Test Match county and Warwickshire's chief executive Colin Povey was forced to apologise afterwards.

Warwickshire cannot afford a repeat tonight, nor can they afford another home defeat which would put them out of a second one-day competition before the half-way point of the season.

Warwickshire will be boosted by the return of all-rounder Alex Loudon from duty with England A against Pakistan at Canterbury.

But batsman Ian Bell, who also played in the tourist match, is unlikely to be available having secured a recall to England's squad for the first Test at Lord's on Thursday.

Bell will also miss tomorrow's final group match against Worcestershire at New Road.

Slow left-armer Paul Harris, who made a surprise debut against Worcestershire just four hours after his registration papers were cleared by the ECB, will also be in the squad.

Harris, a South African who has been signed on an 18-months contract, joins Warwickshire full-time from today having made a farewell appearance for Northern League club Fleetwood, where he had been playing as a professional, at Lancaster on Saturday.

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