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Warwickshire seal ninth County Championship title with innings win

Ethan Bamber took nine wickets in the match as Warwickshire beat Leicestershire by an innings and 79 runs at Edgbaston, securing their first title since 2021.

NewsJaws DeskEditorial desk
2 min read
Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham, photographed in January 2012.
File photograph: Edgbaston Cricket Ground on 13 January 2012. The ground hosted Warwickshire’s title-clinching victory over Leicestershire in September 2026; this image does not show that match. Web version: converted to WebP and size-optimized without cropping. Edgbaston Cricket Ground 4 — Tony Hisgett / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Cropped version published on Commons.. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).
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Warwickshire secured their ninth County Championship title on 26 September, beating Leicestershire by an innings and 79 runs at Edgbaston to become champions for the first time since 2021.

Ethan Bamber took the final wicket, bowling Tom Scriven for 49 shortly after lunch on the third day. He finished with five wickets for 52 runs in the second innings and nine for 94 across the match.

Bamber and Woakes finish the job

Leicestershire resumed on 55 for three, leaving Warwickshire seven wickets from victory. Chris Woakes removed Sol Budinger for 47 and then Jonny Tattersall, before Bamber dismissed Ben Cox and Ben Green, according to BBC Sport’s match report.

Woakes finished with three for 38, following his three for 20 in the first innings. Leicestershire were dismissed for 168 after making 125 in their first innings; Warwickshire’s 372 meant the hosts did not need to bat again.

Sam Hain’s 142 and captain Ed Barnard’s 88 had established Warwickshire’s advantage. Scriven helped carry Leicestershire’s resistance into the afternoon session, but fell one run short of a half-century as Bamber completed the win.

Five wins in the final six matches

The result completed a strong finish to Warwickshire’s season: they won five of their final six Championship matches, three by an innings. BBC Sport reported that they had won only twice in their opening eight matches before the competition resumed in August.

Bamber ended the campaign as Division One’s leading wicket-taker with 69, while Hain contributed 1,048 Championship runs. The Guardian’s match report also highlighted Barnard’s 30 wickets and Oliver Hannon-Dalby’s 28 in the title-winning season.

This was Warwickshire’s fourth Championship title of the 21st century. Their ninth overall draws them level with Lancashire, behind Yorkshire, Surrey and Middlesex on the list of most titles won.

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