Warwickshire 245 for 4 (Malan 141, Sibley 80) vs Worcestershire
Warwickshire haven't had good luck with overseas players this season. Instead of missing the first three rounds of LV=Insurance County Championship action due to Covid-related travel complications, along with South African batsman Peter Malan, they signed Hanuma Vihari. And while he produced a crucial 52 against Essex, he struggled to adapt to the prevailing seaming conditions in England's opening season and averaged just 16.66 in his three matches.
Meanwhile, Carlos Brathwaite signed for T20 Blast, contracted COVID-19 and was ruled out of major matches. This led the club to sign Kyle Meyers for the final three matches of the T20 group stages, but he missed his first game - a crucial encounter against Worcestershire a few days earlier - after a test for the virus proved inconclusive. This left Warwickshire (or Birmingham as it is known in T20 cricket) struggling to qualify for the knockout stages.
Malan had also faced tough times since his arrival. In this match, in his sixth championship game, he averaged only 15.12 with the highest score of 32. As he said, it has been "a learning experience", but not exactly what Warwickshire expected.
But here finally Malan proved his worth. Celebrating a genuine surface and a low-powered attack, he scored a high-class century to give Warwickshire a firmer platform in the game. After escaping an edge to slip on 5 - replays were not decisive, but it looked like the ball had not reached Tom Fell - he hardly played another false stroke.
It was in many ways a timely contribution of Malan. Not only did Warwickshire need a strong performance with the bat to ensure their place in Division One - a high-scoring draw would probably suffice - but Malan is out of contract at the end of the week. Currently, he is not guaranteed to be invited back when the championship resumes in a few months. He will fly back to South Africa in a week.
It was difficult to imagine their earlier struggles because of their dominance here. But on a dry, largely grassless pitch, there was little lateral motion to bother him and initially, at least, the new ball went on the bat the way he is accustomed to in South Africa. Anything short - and very little - was smashed, while he also made sweet moves when the ball was overpitched.
"It has been a learning experience," Malan said. "You need a different technique to do well here and I have built up my technique playing on South African wickets. The pitch was a bit dry and the ball came in quite well."
Worcestershire, it must be said, were strangely sociable. Not only did he create a pitch where there was barely a ball to go after, but he nurtured his ability on the back-foot with a surf of short balls. In fact, when he cut his bowling aside, you wondered if he was planning on lying on Braai after the game to make sure he felt completely at home.
There was good news for England as well. Dom Sibley has had a disappointing season so far, with a finger injury limiting his ability to get time at the crease. But here he looked increasingly fluent as he helped Malan post 220 for Warwickshire's second wicket and registered his highest score since February.
He took a chance when Daryl Mitchell put him down at slips at age 24, but otherwise looked in good touch producing a couple of surprisingly pleasing shots – a back-foot force through cover of the day. was one of the strokes.
Perhaps Worcestershire were a little unlucky. The pitch is used for this match - although only in T20Is between these two sides a few days ago - and they felt it would provide support to their spinners. So he rested Charlie Morris and Dillon Pennington (Josh Tung is injured and could be in doubt for the rest of the season) and handed debuts to New Zealand legspinner Ish Sodhi and 18-year-old left-armer Josh Baker. Spinner who left school (Malvern College) a few weeks ago. A crucial toss could prove that losing was not ideal. Warwickshire have also made their first-class debut with left-arm wrist spinner Jake Lintott.
Baker, from a distance, was the choice of Worcestershire's spinners. Introduced into the attack for the 11th over - a fine piece of Leach's captaincy - he didn't get much turn, but displayed impressive control and bowled at the pace that is a must for a modern finger spinner. At the end of the day, he also took the wicket of Sam Hahn off the last ball, before the rain stopped early; A sharp one that slips out of hand and traps Hahn in the back leg. It was a fine piece of bowling from a young man that looks worthy of further investment.
By then, Warwickshire had also lost Sibley, caught down the leg side, and Malan, caught at slip after an edged pull shot ballooned off his thigh pad. It took a little of the gloss off the day but, with another bonus point around the corner and a fair bit of batting to come, they will hope they are well on the way to the haul they need. If they get there, they will be grateful for Malan's contribution.