Openers pull Notts level

Nottinghamshire will resume their second innings on 49 without loss against Championship winners Warwickshire, having wiped out their first innings deficit.

The Bears were bowled out for 204 on a day shortened by rain, with Andy Carter leading the way for the hosts to finish with four wickets for 55 runs, Warwickshire allrounders Rikki Clarke and Ian Blackwell both making 37. Notts openers Neil Edwards and Sam Kelsall then put on 49 inside 13 overs before rain wiped out the rest of the day shortly after lunch.

The day's action means that the match has effectively becomes a single innings shoot-out, with Notts aiming for their first win since May to boost their chances of a second-placed finish in Division One.

Warwickshire resumed their first innings on 139 for 6, with Blackwell and Clarke looking to increase their 42-run partnership for the seventh wicket. But Blackwell only added nine to his overnight score of 28 before he got a thick outside edge to a cut shot off Ben Phillips that was held at head height by Steven Mullaney at second slip.

Clarke then offered no stroke to be bowled by Carter four overs later, with the lanky fast bowler softening up new batsman Chris Wright with a couple of venomous short deliveries. That paved the way for Paul Franks to have the tailender caught behind driving outside off stump, before Franks wrapped up the innings by having Jeetan Patel caught at first slip.

While Edwards and Kelsall had been faced with batting in testing conditions at the start of the first day, the pitch seemed to offer less assistance to the Warwickshire seam attack second time around. The pair proceeded without real alarm and both had hit three fours when rain ended play, Kelsall on 25 not out and Edwards unbeaten on 16.