Paul Farbrace backs Rob Yates to achieve England honours

Yates, who played for Staffordshire in 2018, has established himself as a key part of the Bears County Championship XI.

The 21-year-old has scored more than 1,000 runs since making his first-class debut two years ago and hit centuries this season in matches against Essex and Worcestershire.

With Dom Sibley largely unavailable due to England duty, Yates has moved up to open the batting this term alongside skipper Will Rhodes.

Warwickshire director of cricket Paul Farbrace believes he has the ability to one day shine in the international set-up.

He said: “Rob has made huge strides over the last 12 months and everyone at Edgbaston believes that he can play a huge part in our club’s fortunes for many years to come,

“He is also very level-headed with a great temperament for batting. We firmly believe he has all of the attributes to succeed in the international arena with England and everyone associated with the club should be very excited by how far he could go in the game.”

Yates and the Bears were today aiming to build on last weekend’s championship win over Nottinghamshire when they continued their campaign at Derbyshire.

Worcestershire, who are also well in the hunt for a top two finish in Group One, host Durham at New Road.

England all-rounder Moeen Ali was, meanwhile, due to feature for the Pears second XI in a T20 doubleheader against the Bears at Barnt Green.

It promised to be something of a star-studded occasion with West Indies star Carlos Brathwaite, the Bears overseas player for the forthcoming T20 Blast, likely to be in the opposing team. Frustratingly, both matches were being played behind closed doors.

Moeen’s brother Kadeer, the Worcestershire coach, said: “Moeen will probably play one out of the two matches, and we are looking forward to having him around. It will be an amazing experience for the lads to have him in the same dressing room and for the Academy lads involved to play with Moeen.”