Warwickshire County Cricket Club start 2005 as defending county champions and 11–4 favourites to retain their title. They play their totesport League cricket in Division Two. Warwickshire won the title in 2004 through their batting, and they have further enhanced it with the addition of Alex Loudon. In the traditional Champion County v MCC match that kicks off the season, Warwickshire fared well, but ultimately lost to what essentially was an England A squad. However, when the Championship started, they immediately imposed their authority by thrashing Division One newcomers Glamorgan by an innings. Their first Sunday League game, against Somerset was abandoned as a draw because of rain. In the second Championship game, Warwickshire were outplayed by Kent, who should have won. But determination saw Warwickshire through to the draw. The Bears were 9 wickets down when time was called. Then Ian Bell and Ashley Giles helped trounce Middlesex in the Championship. The following day they beat the Spitfires by 19 runs. On 3 and 4 May they beat Holland in the first round of the C&G Trophy. They then lost to Sussex in first the totesport League and then the Championship. On 17 May they beat Leicestershire at home to progress to the Quarter-Finals of the C&G Trophy. Three days later they beat Derbyshire easily in the one-day league. They then beat Cambridge UCCE by 18 runs in an MCC University match, before trouncing title rivals Hampshire by ten wickets at home inside two days. The first game of June saw a comfortable 4-day draw away to Surrey, before a 49-run win against the same opposition kept them in the promotion fight in the National League Division Two. Their fine first-class form continued, as they won their third County Championship match in style at Gloucestershire, but they were thumped by Kent in the next game, hampered by a groin injury to Heath Streak. That injury could have been a cause of their seven-wicket defeat at home to Leicestershire. Warwickshire's long batting line-up came to surprisingly little use in the Twenty20 Cup, as they lost their first two matches, and their first win came against hapless Glamorgan. After six games, they had only scraped five points, and endured two one-run losses to Worcestershire. They managed to get through to the quarter-finals, however, thanks to big wins over Somerset and Northamptonshire. They followed that up with two wins in the National