Barnard disappointed as Warwickshire Bears lose opening Vitality Blast clashes
Warwickshire Bears captain Ed Barnard was disappointed by the manner of their seven wicket home defeat by Vitality Blast champions Somerset on Sunday.
It followed an opening defeat at Gloucestershire on Friday.
It was an innings of 93 off 48 balls by James Rew that proved to be a match-winning contribution for the visitors, after the Bears had set Somerset 190 to win.
Sam Hain had earlier struck 52 off 35 balls, and was ably assisted by Rob Yates (42 off 25) and Beau Webster (41 off 30), as Warwickshire set what looked to be a testing total.
But Rew had other ideas, with his innings including nine fours and four sixes.
“I don’t think we put out our best performance out there with the ball and in the field,” said Barnard.
“I thought we were sloppy, made some basic errors and made it quite easy for them.
“Obviously, Rew played really well. He’s a high-quality player, but I think we could have made it a bit more difficult for him.
“To get 180, we were pleased. I thought we were going to be in with a chance, but it didn’t turn out to be.
“We’ve now got a derby game on Friday. There’s no better game to obviously get everyone up for. Hopefully we can get on a bit of a roll.”
Westwood was left frustrated with his side’s batting display as they fell to a 47-run defeat against Gloucestershire
At Bristol on Friday, the Bears restricted their hosts to 121 all out and would have fancied their chances of getting their Vitality Blast campaign off to a winning start, before losing four of the top five for single figures.
Blast debutant Vansh Jani offered some hope with 21 off 18, but Gloucestershire wrapped up the Bears’ innings for 74 to send them back to Warwickshire empty-handed.
Warwickshire Women also lost by seven wickets on Sunday.
They posted 166-9 with Meg Austin top-scoring with 41 from 29 balls and Amu Surenkumar adding 28 from 20.
Somerset’s chase got off to a fortunate start with an early dropped catch and a no ball reprieve, and the visitors capitalised through Sophie Luff and Anika Learoyd.
Luff struck 58 from 33 balls, sharing an 84-run partnership with Learoyd to put Somerset in control of the chase.
On Friday, Bears Women slipped to a seven-wicket defeat in their Vitality Blast opener against Essex in Chelmsford.
Bears lost Meg Austin inside the first over but recovered to post 164-8 from their 20 overs, thanks largely to opening batter Abbey Freeborn’s unbeaten 86 from 56 balls.
But Essex reached their target for the loss of only three wickets in 14.2 overs.