Yorkshire (274 and 291-6) beat Warwickshire (217 and 347) by 4 wickets

A fabulous sixth-wicket partnership of 153 in 27 overs between Jacques Rudolph and Jonny Bairstow, right, presented Yorkshire with an impressive opening-round LV Championship win over Warwickshire at Edgbaston today.

The White Rose county had slipped to 123-5 chasing 291 just before lunch - but the pair took the game away from their hosts in a marvellous hour of counter-attacking cricket after the break. Bairstow top-scored with 81 off 104 balls, while Rudolph finished just behind him on 69 not out. Opener Adam Lyth led the way this morning with a vital 67 - but Warwickshire got themselves into the ascendency as Imran Tahir and Neil Carter claimed two wickets apiece.

Nightwatchman Ajmal Shahzad was the first to fall, trapped lbw by one from Carter kept low - and the left-arm seamer struck again when he had Lyth caught behind down the leg-side by Tim Ambrose for 67 off 124 balls. Ex-White Rose leg-spinner Tahir got in on the act when he pinned Anthony Mcgrath lbw and had skipper Andrew Gale caught by Jonathan Trott at first slip soon afterwards. Yorkshire were 123-5 in the 49th, and had lost three wickets for 12 runs in nine overs.

Rudolph and Bairstow - both pushed a place down the order by Shahzad's role as night-watchman - first took the attack to Andrew Miller and Imran before also taking a liking to Chris Woakes and Naqaash Tahir. Rudolph was strong through the covers and straight, while Bairstow was also impressive down the ground, through mid-wicket, and with a series of late cuts to the boundary.

Bairstow reached his 50 in 71 balls, including seven fours, and Rudolph followed soon afterwards off 76 balls, with 10 fours. Bairstow - with 14 fours to his name - was caught at mid-on by Woakes for 81 to give Carter his third wicket, but it was all too little, too late for the hosts. Yorkshire were 276-6, and needed only 15 runs to win. Tim Bresnan arrived to hit a couple of boundaries and the winning runs, and Rudolph came in with 69, including 13 fours in his 98-ball knock.

Yorkshire, who start their LV Championship home match against Somerset on Thursday, head back to HQ tonight with 21 points under their belts.

Close Day 3: Yorkshire (274 and 57-1) need 234 to beat Warwickshire (217 and 347)

Oliver Hannon-Dalbysparked a Yorkshire fightback with a maiden first-class five-wicket haul on Day 3 of their LV Championship clash with Warwickshire at Edgbaston today.

The 20 year-old Halifax-born fast bowler, standing at 6ft 8inches tall, claimed the wickets of Jonathan Trott, Tim Ambrose, Chris Woakes, Neil Carter and Naqaash Tahir on the way to figures of 5-68 from 17 overs.

Warwickshire slumped from 231-3 to 347 all out to set Yorkshire a target of 291 runs to win the opening County Championship fixture of the season. Openers Joe Sayers and Adam Lyth made a confident start - Lyth setting the tone with a number of eye-catching early boundaries to put Woakes and Andrew Miller out of kilter. The pair shared 48 for the first wicket, Sayers departing for 12, but Lyth, 34 not out, and night-watchman Ajmal Shahzad guided Yorkshire to the close at 57-1 from 19 overs. They need 234 more runs to win.

Ian Bell's 54, Trott's 88 and Jim Troughton's 78 had looked set to give their side the upper hand, but Hannon-Dalby, whose only first-class wicket before this match was Mark Ramprakash, turned it round. Bell and Varun Chopra, 45, added 96 for the second wicket before Trott and Troughton put on 105 for the fourth to advance their second innings score to 231-3 in the 72nd over - but Hannon-Dalby claimed his first four wickets for 19 runs in 29 balls to make it 261-7.

Oliver grabbed two wickets in five balls as Trott was caught by a tumbling Anthony McGrath at second slip in the 72nd over, and ex-England wicket-keeper Ambrose was trapped lbw: 231-5. Woakes was his next victim, bowled in the 76th over to leave the board at 239-6, and Carter punted a back-of-a-length ball to skipper Andrew Gale at mid-off to reduce the hosts to 261-7 in the 80th.

Gale snatched the new ball, but McGrath and Jonny Bairstow missed chances to complete Hannon-Dalby's five-for as Troughton - who had just reached his 50 off 98 balls - was dropped twice in two overs. The first had McGrath running backwards from slip, and the second saw the wicket-keeper failing to cling on as he dived to his left.

These fumbles gave Troughton and Naqaash Tahir the opportunity to share an annoying eighth-wicket partnership of 64 in 13 overs. Then Steven Patterson rocked back Troughton's leg-stump and had Imran Tahir caught behind before Hannon-Dalby returned to seal his milestone by trapping Naqaash lbw for a useful 34. Sayers and Lyth stayed together until the 14th over before Sayers nicked a Naqaash ball angled across him through to Ambrose.

Close Day 2: Warwickshire (217 and 84-1) lead Yorkshire (274) by 27 runs

Adil Rashid and Ajmal Shahzad shared an eighth-wicket stand of 63 to help Yorkshire build a first-innings lead in their LV Championship match at Edgbaston - but Warwickshire still have nine second-innings wickets standing.

The hosts claimed the honours on Day 2, and with England's Ian Bell ominously poised on 41 and Varun Chopra unbeaten on 33, the Bears will be confident of increasing their advantage tomorrow morning. Yet there remains plenty of hope for Yorkshire: there is still help in the pitch for all the bowlers, as has been demonstrated by two first-innings scores south of 300.

Jacques Rudolph reached 75 from 153 balls, but he was one of four Yorkshire wickets to fall for 21 as Warwickshire fought their way back. The White Rose reached 274 in reply to the home side's 217 all out - but they had to mount a mini-recovery from 197-7...the eighth-wicket stand of 63 between Rashid and Shahzad did the trick.

Rudolph and captain Andrew Gale added 48 to the overnight 128-3 before Gale was trapped lbw by a Neil Carter ball which kept low, making Yorkshire 176-4 in the 56th over. Rudolph had his leg-stump rocked back in the next over by leg-spinner and former Nashua Titans teammate Imran Tahir before Jonny Bairstow slapped a friendly short one from Carter down the throat of Chris Woakes at square-leg in the 60th. Tim Bresnan completed the quartet of dismissals in the last-but-one over of the session when he edged Naqaash Tahir behind to Tim Ambrose to leave the visitors seven down in the 66th.

Rashid and Shahzad came together to help Yorkshire to build their lead through the late morning and most of the afternoon. Rashid did much of the scoring on the way to a 129-ball 44, while Shahzad was stuck on 14 for 44 balls and 49 minutes - breaking the spell with a lofted straight-driven four off Imran.

Rashid fell as tea approached: in Jonathan Trott's first over he was undone by a little bit of extra bounce and edged to Bell at first slip. Steven Patterson was caught behind by Ambrose off Woakes early in the evening session before Oliver Hannon-Dalby was trapped lbw by Imran to give him his third wicket and close the innings.

Ex-Tyke Imran finished with 3-67 from 28.2 overs, but Woakes, Naqaash and Carter all claimed two. Shahzad finished 30 not out from 125 balls, but the paceman was soon in the action with the ball as he toppled Ian Westwood to give Warwickshire the jitters early in their second innings: Westwood gloved a vicious delivery behind to Bairstow.

Joe Sayers was soon presented with an opportunity to remove Bell, but failed to throw down the stumps running in from point with the batsman short of his ground. Bell and Chopra advanced, despite the odd close shave here and there, with Bell despatching a Rashid long-hop over the square-leg fence for six in the last over the day.

Day 1 Close: Warwickshire 217, Yorkshire 128-3

Yorkshire and new skipper Andrew Gale made an impressive start to the new season by dominating Day 1 of their LV Championship match against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

The White Rose bowled their hosts out for 217 after Gale won the toss at his first atempt and put Warwickshire in. Ajmal Shahzad and Steven Patterson both claimed three wickets, Tim Bresnan two and Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Adil Rashid one apiece.

Joe Sayers added 50 in a third-wicket partnership of 62 in the last session with Jacques Rudolph, who finished the day on 43 as the visitors reached 128-3 from 36 overs. They resume tomorrow 89 runs behind. Gale's first day as Yorkshire skipper in competitive cricket was a success - but when you look closely at the scores you realise how good a day it really was for the Dewsbury-born player: five of the 10 Warwickshire wickets were taken in the first over of a new spell - showing that Andrew's bowling changes were spot on.

Shahzad struck in the fourth over of the day when he had Varun Chopra lbw at 6-1 before Ian Westwood and Ian Bell, 31, added 53 in 13 overs for the second wicket. Then Bresnan, who took the new ball, snared the prized wicket of Bell in the first over of his second spell - forcing his England teammate to edge behind to Jonathan Bairstow to leave the hosts at 59-2 in the 17th. They were 68-3 three overs later when Jonathan Trott edged Patterson to Bairstow.  

Yorkshire took seven wickets in the afternoon session. Westwood, 39, was trapped lbw by Hannon-Dalby to make it 99-4 before Tim Ambrose was caught at first slip by Rudolph off Patterson. Jim Troughton, also 39, was superbly caught at second slip by Anthony McGrath off Shahzad to leave the score at 134-6 in the 42nd over, and Chris Woakes was bowled round his legs by Patterson before Carter and Naqaash Tahir shared an eighth-wicket stand of 47 in nine overs to give Warwickshire some heart.

Naqaash was caught at mid-on by Patterson off Bresnan; Carter was trapped lbw trying to sweep Rashid, and Imran Tahir was caught at first by Rudolph off Shahzad. Carter top-scored with a breezy 41, but Shahzad finished with 3-40 from 13.2 overs, Patterson 3-51 from 14 and Bresnan 2-71 from 19.

Yorkshire opened with Sayers and Adam Lyth, who fell for six, and McGrath was caught behind by Ambrose off Naqaash to make the visitors 45-2 in the 10th. Sayers hit seven fours and a six in his 86-ball knock - but was stumped off former White Rose leg-spinner Imran. Rudolph, who passed 12,000 first-class career runs, also hit seven boundaries in his 81-ball stay at the crease, and will return tomorrow with Gale for company.

Reports by GRAHAM HARDCASTLE

MATCH PREVIEW

New Captain Andrew Gale leads his squad to Edgbaston this week for the first match of the season as Yorkshire take on Warwickshire in the LV= County Championship.

YORKSHIRE SQUAD

Joe Sayers, Adam Lyth, Anthony McGrath, Jacques Rudolph, Andrew Gale (Capt), Jonathan Bairstow (wk), Adil Rashid, Tim Bresnan, Ajmal Shahzad, Steven Patterson, Oliver Hannon - Dalby, David Wainwright and Richard Pyrah.

WARWICKSHIRE SQUAD

To Be Announced.

MATCH INFORMATION

Hours of Play 

Morning session: 11am to 1pm
Afternoon session: 1.40pm to 3.40pm
Evening session: 4pm to 6pm

In the event of more than 32 overs remaining to be bowled at 3.40pm (3.10pm in matches scheduled to start in September) the tea interval will be delayed and play will continue until 32 overs remain to be bowled at which time the tea interval will commence.

(Timings are brought forward 30 minutes for matches where the first day of the match is scheduled to start in September). On each of the first three days there is provision for playing time to be extended by the amount of time lost in that day up to a maximum of 30 minutes.