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A soporific second day of the Bob Willis Trophy came and went with Warwickshire training for world domination. As inexorably as the autumn sun rising and setting, they strode along, the occasional wicket being only a temporary diversion, as they registered two hundred, two fifty and forty on the way to a ahead of 386 in the first set.
Captain Will Rhodes, who finished the day undefeated on 151, received a standing ovation as he walked up the steps of the lodge. What a final hurray for his season: catching Jack Brooks to win the championship at Edgbaston on Friday, and launching into his first century of summer, at Lord’s, to put the game well out of Lancashire’s reach.
Rhodes fizzed with manly confidence in the town, irrelevant with a four through the covers, with another four, this time a spanking in the middle of the wicket, bringing his fifties in tapping time. He was ruthless on anything too short or too wide, as was Rob Yates, the pair putting in 110 for the second wicket.
Yates, one of the most talked about young drummers on the tour, hit his 100 with easy cover training, becoming the first player to make five centuries of first class this season and the first since Joe Clarke of Nottinghamshire to make five. or more during a summer at the tender age of 22 years or less. It was also his first century away from Edgbaston, and also in front of Sky cameras.
There were also races for Sam Hain and Michael Burgess, with poor Matthew Lamb the only drummer recognized to fail, skedadded for a duck by a Luke Wells beauty who dove in and came out of the dust.
As the game progressed towards six o’clock, Matt Parkinson threw in another shot, his shadow stretching back almost to the start of the season. He picked up his 100th first-class wicket, after Burgess pushed forward and was trapped by Alex Davies behind the stumps (story within a story: Warwickshire keeper present bewildered by Warwickshire keeper – maybe to be – to come). His 101st followed when an unusually overpowered Tim Bresnan was caught for four. It was a courageous and tireless performance, with the ball.
As with the mood of the day, the meeting between the 18 general managers and county presidents to develop the structure for the summer of 2022 did not yield anything. They discussed the recommendations of the England and Wales Cricket Board (three conferences next season, with the results impacting a return to a two-division structure in 2023) and returned to their counties to consult. The ballots will be returned early next week. A two-thirds majority is required for any decision to be adopted.
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