England man Woakes still sidelined as champions Warwickshire prepare for 'useful' Northants

Warwickshire will be without England pace bowling pair Chris Woakes and Olly Stone when they line up against Northants at Edgbaston on Thursday (start 11am).
Warwickshire captain Will RhodesWarwickshire captain Will Rhodes
Warwickshire captain Will Rhodes

Woakes had been expected to feature, but he has failed to recover from a niggling knee problem and remains sidelined.

Former Northants man Stone is also ruled out, as although he has been playing second team cricket it has been principally as a batsman and he is some way off a first team return.

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The Bears will be handing a home debut to their Australian fast bowling import though.

Nathan McAndrew impressed in last week’s draw against Lancashire at Old Trafford, claiming five wickets in the match, with skipper Will Rhodes delighted with his performance.

“It was great to see big Nath bowl so well at Old Trafford,” said Rhodes.

"In his first game at Taunton, there was some jet lag and a few nerves around and he also had no luck at all, but he really showed what he can do against Lancashire.

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"He bowled with pace and aggression and really help drag us back in the game.”

England man Dom Sibley will open the batting for Warwickshire, and he will be in confident mood after scoring 142 not out in the first innings in Manchester.

The Birmingham-based side go into the clash against Northants just one place and 10 points above their visitors in the Championship table, and Rhodes has plenty of respect for John Sadler’s men.

“Northants are a very useful team,” said Rhodes.

“They have had a couple of good draws away to difficult sides and have a lot of good players who maybe tend to pass a little bit under the radar – Luke Procter is having a fantastic season.

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“We know we will have to play well but we know Edgbaston well and have a game plan which has worked well for us.”

Warwickshire squad v Northants: Will Rhodes (C); Chris Benjamin; Danny Briggs; Michael Burgess; Alex Davies; Sam Hain; Olly Hannon-Dalby; Matt Lamb; Nathan McAndrew; Craig Miles; Liam Norwell; Dom Sibley; Rob Yates