White and Glover in line for Northants debuts as Ripley names squad for Warwickshire opener

The County travel to Birmingham for their opening Bob Willis Trophy match, with the professional domestic season at long last getting underway, five months later than scheduled.

The season was due to start in early April but was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but Northants will get out in the middle this weekend.

The Bob Willis Trophy is replacing the County Championship for 2020, with Northants set to play five fixtures in the six-team Central Group.

As he said he would, head coach David Ripley has picked a squad for the trip to Edgbaston which has a mixture of youngsters, inexperienced players and seasoned campaigners.

There is no place in the 13 for the likes of Alex Wakely or Richard Levi, who will be introduced in a few weeks time to find rhythm and form ahead of the T20 Blast, while Gareth Berg and Brett Hutton miss out as they are not yet match fit.

Adam Rossington captains the squad, which also features 20-year-old batsman Emilio Gay, as well as Ricardo Vasconcelos who has not played a competitive game since undergoing ankle surgery last July.

Also included is fast bowler Glover, who was signed on a three-year deal in the winter, and White, who has yet to make a first team appearance despite being at the club since the start of 2019.

Injuries put paid to him making his mark last summer, but it looks as though he will finally get the chance to show what he can do this weekend.

Play at Edgbaston is scheduled to start at 11am, but there will now NOT be any spectators allowed into the game.

Around 2,500 Warwickshire members were scheduled to attend the match, but in light of Friday's announcement by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the cancellation of the spectator pilot programme for live sport, it has been confirmed that fans will no longer be able to attend play in the match against Northants.

Stuart Cain, Chief Executive of Warwickshire CCC, said: “We’re naturally disappointed by today’s announcement given the steps that we have taken to create the safest possible environment at an elite sporting event. However, we fully understand and respect the Government’s decision.

“We remain committed to working with the Government and the ECB to play a further part in this pilot programme and building on our first successful hosting of a live crowd on Tuesday.

“Whilst we understand the disappointment from our members and supporters, we have invested in an enhanced live stream for our matches in the 2020 season, and this can be accessed completely free from tomorrow morning at edgbaston.com.”

Northants squad v Warwickshire: Adam Rossington (c), Nathan Buck, Josh Cobb, Ben Curran, Emilio Gay, Brandon Glover, Rob Keogh, Luke Procter, Ben Sanderson, Charlie Thurston, Ricardo Vasconcelos, Jack White, Saif Zaib