'No excuses' - Warwickshire skipper gives frank assessment ahead of crucial Worcestershire derby

Skipper Ed Barnard admits Warwickshire’s T20 Blast campaign is in the last chance saloon heading into Friday’s derby showdown with Worcestershire.

The Bears host the rival Pears at Edgbaston in the Midlands’ biggest domestic fixture of the summer, needing a win to maintain their slender hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages.

With just one win on the board at the halfway point, Barnard acknowledges his team may have to be perfect over the six remaining matches if they are to escape the Central and West Group.

But the former Shropshire ace is refusing to throw in the towel and believes they are capable of coming back from the brink.

“That’s how we see it,” he told the Express & Star. “I’m not sure mathematically how it will be exactly.

“But we are aiming to win these last six to put ourselves in the best position to qualify.

“Obviously, we have given ourselves a bit of a mountain to climb. But the Somerset game last time, the way we batted in that and the way we bowled in the first 10 overs in particular, can obviously give us some belief.

“These are still good players and this is still a good squad.”

While the Bears run of five straight quarter-final exits in the Blast has been a cause of huge frustration, in the group stages they have been a dominant force, regularly winning more than 10 matches a summer.

Their dreadful start to this campaign, which saw them lose the first five matches, therefore came as something of a jolt.

Barnard, who took over captaincy duties from Alex Davies over the winter, pointed to squad turnover which included the exit of the Blast’s all-time leading wicket-taker Danny Briggs as a factor in the downturn.

Otherwise, the skipper pulled no punches in his assessment.

“There are no excuses. We just have not been at the races,” he said.

“We have been 10 to 15 per cent off in all areas. Our fielding has let us down at times, our bowling has perhaps not been good enough and then at other times our batting has failed.

“We have shown lots of good stuff but only in patches. We have not put the performances together as a whole team. We did that at Somerset and hopefully now we can get on a bit of a roll.”

The Bears will be boosted by the return of Chris Woakes after the former England international sat out the last two County Championship matches. It will be the first time Woakes has played in the fixture at Edgbaston since 2014.

All-rounder George Garton is also available to play as a batter as he recovers from injury.

Visitors Worcestershire sit fourth in the group, with one of their three wins a straightforward victory over the Bears at New Road last month.

A crowd of more than 10,000 is expected for the re-match.

“It’s definitely one of those fixtures you look out for at the start of the summer,” said Barnard.

“They are a really good team. All we are focusing on is just trying to get some points on the board and see where it takes us.”