Sidebottom rubber-stamps Yorkshire title credentials

Yorkshire 213 and 125 for 1 (Rhodes 53*) lead Warwickshire 69 (Sidebottom 6-34, Brooks 3-14) by 269 runs
Scorecard

On days such as these are Yorkshire's Championship credentials rubber-stamped. With Ryan Sidebottom turning in one of his habitually irresistible spells of swing and stamina, and threatening briefly to claim all ten wickets in the innings, Warwickshire's batsmen were routed in the gloaming at Edgbaston.

Bowled out for 69, their lowest first-class total for 29 years and their lowest at Edgbaston since 1982, they avoided the follow-on by the skin of their tenth wicket - no mean feat when you have already reduced your opponents to 213 in their first innings - then watched Yorkshire's batsmen plough off into the distance in a less dramatically one-sided evening session.

By the close of a day in which Edgbaston's bespoke "e"-shaped floodlights had been a near-constant companion, Will Rhodes had calmly notched up his maiden Championship half-century with Jack Leaning alongside him on 28. At 125 for 1, the lead was already an imposing 259 with nine wickets standing, and with two days remaining, there is plenty time for Yorkshire to turn the screw further, even with a dour forecast in prospect.

Yorkshire's day began with a sniff of an opening, courtesy of Sidebottom's two-wicket burst on Sunday night, but plenty of work still required to restore parity after a slipshod display with the bat in which Jonny Bairstow's century had shown up the shortcomings of the rest of the order.

After a rain-wrecked morning session had been reduced to nine balls, the mere fact that play was possible after lunch came as something of a surprise. Either way, Warwickshire's batsmen did not appear remotely ready to repel the threat posed by the oldest swinger in town.

"Taking a few early wickets last night helped the confidence," said Sidebottom. "I suppose it happens like that, you get in a bit of rhythm, you put it in the right area with a little bit of seam and swing, you get the edge, got a few bowleds, it was really nice.

"In the team meeting this morning, Dizzy [Jason Gillespie] actually put in onto me to say a few words and I said we've got to bowl full and straight, so I had to do what I'd said!"

Sidebottom required nine deliveries in the afternoon session to send shockwaves through Warwickshire's innings. Having been standing at the far end on Sunday evening when Varun Chopra shouldered arms to Sidebottom's first ball of the innings, Ian Westwood might have realised the folly of leaving the good-length deliveries. Instead he too had his stumps flattened by a wicked late curler, and at 29 for 3, Warwickshire's innings swung out of control.

Laurie Evans needed ten balls to get off the mark and was then cut down by his 11th, another Sidebottom special that curled around his half-formed defences to flatten his off stump, as Warwickshire contrived to lose their next five wickets for no runs in the space of 30 balls.

Sam Hain bagged a nine-ball duck as he handed Sidebottom his fifth wicket of the innings, courtesy of a smart take by Jack Leaning at third slip, whereupon, two balls later, Peter McKay was pinned so palpably lbw that Sidebottom didn't bother turning to the umpire to appeal as he charged off in celebration. At that stage, Sidebottom had claimed all six wickets in the innings but before he could start a new over, Warwickshire lost their seventh, and their third in four balls, when Jonathan Trott, their only remaining hope, was outstandingly plucked by Leaning, scooped at full stretch in the slips to give Jack Brooks his first scalp of the day.

Jeetan Patel registered the fifth duck of the innings when he fenced limply outside off to be caught behind in Brooks' next over, and Boyd Rankin the sixth, though not before he had raised ironic cheers in the crowd for scoring Warwickshire's first run in six-and-a-half overs, a deflection off the helmet that required a break for some running repairs.

At 37 for 9, the ludicrous prospect of the follow-on now loomed into view - Yorkshire's bowlers could hardly have been fresher, with Sidebottom and Brooks running on adrenaline and the change seamers, Tim Bresnan and Steve Patterson, yet to be called upon, and Andrew Gale signalled Yorkshire's desire to stick their opponents back in with one of the more improbable 37-for-9 fields you'll ever witness - two slips and four men out on the boundary.

But Rikki Clarke found the gumption to resist. He flicked Sidebottom over square leg for six and added three more fours en route to 28 from 42 balls which, at that stage, was the joint-second-highest score of the match. His resistance was ended when Patterson bowled him through the gate, leaving Oliver Hannon-Dalby unbeaten on 5.

Yorkshire's second innings was a model of uncomplicated restraint. The conditions remained trying but the fizz was understandably absent from their attack. Rhodes capitalised with 53 not out from 125 balls, an innings of understated class that showed why, at 20 years old, he is a batsman whose progress is being so closely monitored.

With Leaning no less resolute, the only man to fall was Alex Lees, who was smartly taken at first slip by Chopra to end an opening stand of 58. But Warwickshire's problems were compounded soon afterwards when McKay, the wicketkeeper who had been conspicuous by his failure to go for that catch, had to leave the field with a suspected broken finger. His role was temporarily filled by Andy Umeed, a 19-year-old batsman whose maiden first-class match came for Scotland against Afghanistan at Stirling last month.