To the delighted astonishment of their supporters, Warwickshire enter the final weeks of the County Championship with a realistic chance of lifting the title.
Can they do it? Much will depend on their key players. First in the list comes Frank Foster, their young, dynamic captain and all-rounder. He is followed by Frank Field, the fast bowler who is enjoying his best-ever season in this summer of baking heat and rock-hard pitches. And then there is young Ernest "Tiger" Smith, a wicket-keeper batsman whose brilliant keeping standing up to Foster’s fliers has been so spectacular.
I could go on – but I realise that I have slipped back 100 years to sing the praises of those local heroes who lifted the Championship title for the first time exactly a century ago.
If you want to know the full story, I can recommend Robert Brooke’s excellent biography of the heroic but ultimately tragic Foster, The Fields Were Sudden Bare. Or you can visit the blog of Algernon Halford, chimney sweep extraordinaire, who has chronicled his first-hand impressions of the season.
The truth is that, whilst the present side may not possess a Foster, a Field or a Smith, they do also have a realistic chance of stealing the title from under the noses of the more fancied teams. They have some excellent players and, in the Championship at least, seem to have found the secret of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Foster’s team had that same knack, as did the team of Jonathan Trott’s grandfather-in-law, Tom Dollery, who also won the title exactly 60 years ago.
What better way to celebrate both a centenary and a diamond jubilee than by replicating the achievements of those giants of the past? Go to it, Bears!
Update - oh, well, not everything falls into place as it should. In similar fashion, Warwickshire almost created a pattern of sorts by following up their wins in 1911 and 1951 with another in 1971 but they tied on points with Surrey and lost out on number of games won. The positive omen is that they went on to win in 1972 - so go to it, Bears, for 2012!
