Worcestershire 316 for 7 (Kashif 110, Roderick 68) against Warwickshire

Warwickshire captain Alex Davies elected to bowl in his first game in charge, but without Hasan Ali, whose arrival as an overseas player was delayed by a training camp in Pakistan, and the injured Liam Norwell, his bowling attack lacked penetration in a good hitting field.

Kashif took advantage of the situation with composure. After finishing the 2023 season with a career-best 93 against Yorkshire, he launched 2024 with the same confidence to reap a much-deserved maiden ton.

Warwickshire’s bowlers hoped to take advantage of the early moisture on the pitch, but barely a ball strayed from the straight during a morning session in which the only wicket fell on long hop.

Roderick bowled the first ball of the season to the midwicket boundary and, with Jake Libby, put 50 on the board in 12 overs as Olly Hannon-Dalby and Chris Rushworth found pace elusive in the strong wind. Hannon-Dalby and Rushworth between them took 51% of Warwickshire’s Championship wickets last season but achieved little beyond the wide bats of the openers.

Libby made a safe 38 before leaving in anger for giving away her wicket. She overcame a pull towards deep midwicket where Danny Briggs took a good low catch to give debutant Michael Booth his first first-class wicket. Booth, who has emulated the great Bob Wyatt by making his debut in the Warwickshire-Worcestershire season opener at Edgbaston, now sits just 900 first-class wickets behind the former Bears and Pears captain.

While Roderick assumed the anchor role, Kashif batted fluently to score 39 of the first 50 added for the second wicket par. Roderick reached his half-century off 112 balls and Kashif followed his with 92, then celebrated by lifting Booth to the Family Stand for six.

As Warwickshire went on the defensive, the second-wicket pair added 103 in 40 overs. Medium pacers Ed Barnard and Will Rhodes made the batsmen work harder for their runs and it was Rhodes who broke through as he took advantage of a bit of bounce from the delivery and Roderick came close to Rob Yates at slip.

Rob Jones, playing his first Championship match for Worcestershire, settled in calmly to add 55 in 19 overs with Kashif. Jones then tickled a leg-side catch to wicketkeeper Michael Burgess off Briggs and Adam Hose soon beat Barnard to slip.

The Warwickshire bowlers had worked hard on the placid surface but continued on and were rewarded with two wickets off the second new ball. Kashif lifted Hannon-Dalby to cover and by the time Brett D’Oliviera edged out Rushworth, the first six wickets had gone to different players.

Matthew Waite’s vigorous 37 off 42 balls restored Worcestershire’s momentum and although he overtook the impressive Rhodes just before the end, with overseas all-rounders Jason Holder and Nathan Smith making their debuts, Worcestershire have built a promising platform in this match.