Frustration at Edgbaston as match ends in draw

There were angry shouts from spectators as Warwickshire's CricInfo Championship Division Two game against Derbyshire lapsed into frustration and bloody-mindedness before ending in a draw, which served neither county's best interests.

Derbyshire needed victory to ease their plight at the bottom of the table and Warwickshire to improve their chance of promotion but the loss of 75 minutes of play at the start of the day effectively ruined the chance of a positive outcome.

Derbyshire, 165-runs ahead overnight and with eight wickets standing, needed to make runs quickly to get the arithmetic right for an equitable declaration but Warwickshire frustrated this hope with defensive fields and the outcome was an attritional day.

"We might have been able to come up with something if Warwickshire had played ball a bit but as soon as we started getting after the bowling they put two sweepers on," commented Derbyshire's cricket manager Colin Wells.

Warwickshire could reasonably argue that the loss of in-form batsman Dominic Ostler, ruled out for the rest of the season with an elbow injury, limited their scope for contriving a result but there was precious little sympathy for either team from spectators.

When drinks were taken in mid-afternoon one man yelled: "Get on with the game you bloody loafers" and there were more jeers when the game ended with Derbyshire declaring at 435-5, a lead of 396.

Graeme Welch added an innings of 64 - his best for Derbyshire - to figures of 5-53 against his former county and Luke Sutton also took full advantage of an assortment of occasional bowlers to score 110 not out, his maiden first-class century.