LV County Championship - Division One
Edgbaston
Warwickshire 407 (I J L Trott 166) & 97-2 dec (I R Bell 55 no) v Sussex 429-8 dec (C D Hopkinson 119, L J Wright 71, A J Hodd 59 no, M H Yardy 57, N Tahir 4-83)
Warwickshire (11pts) drew with Sussex (12pts)
Carl Hopkinson scored the second century of his career as Sussex played out a stalemate with Warwickshire at Edgbaston on Friday.
The 27-year-old, left out of his county side for the first half of the summer, continued his impressive comeback for the Sharks by taking his overnight score from 64 not out to 119 before eventually hoisting a long-hop from Jonathan Trott to deep midwicket.
Andrew Hodd maintained his development with 59 not out, before Sussex denied Warwickshire a third bowling point by declaring at 429-8 when Yasir Arafat was trapped lbw to a full-length ball from Neil Carter.
The home side were then given two hours' batting before the match could be written off, but hopes that Ian Westwood might find some form were dashed when the captain edged Corey Collymore to first slip.
Tony Frost also fell to a slip catch off Dwayne Smith, but Ian Bell made up for his first-innings failure after being released from the England squad to play in the match.
He was largely untroubled in reaching an unbeaten 55 - his fifth half-century in 10 championship innings this season - as Warwickshire made their way to 97 for two before the captains shook hands to call it a day.
It was the 16th draw in 19 LV County Championship games at Edgbaston since Sussex were beaten on their last visit in April 2007.
Day three
Michael Yardy, Carl Hopkinson and Luke Wright hit half-centuries as Sussex reached 276-4 in reply to Warwickshire's first-innings effort of 407 all out by stumps on day three.
Opening batsman Yardy gave the innings a solid start with 57 before he was one of three victims for Warwickshire seamer Naqqash Tahir (3-45) as Sussex were reduced to 151-4.
Number three Ed Joyce suffered a freak dismissal, bizarrely caught after he swept the left-arm spinner Ant Botha (1-66).
Jonathan Trott took evasive action at short leg but as he turned away the ball somehow dropped into his right-hand trouser pocket. Law 32 says a fielder has fairly completed a catch "if the ball accidentally lodges in his clothing."
Hopkinson (64no) and Wright (59no) revived the innings with an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 125 as the visitors reached the close 131 runs behind.
At the start of day three, Warwickshire's final pair, Chris Woakes (49no) and Tahir (22), had extended their 10th-wicket partnership to 65 before Tahir was caught-and-bowled by Ollie Rayner (2-82).
Day two
Jonathan Trott's second championship century of the season helped Warwickshire overcome their early struggles with the bat on day two of their match against Sussex at Edgbaston.
The South African, the highest scorer so far in the Twenty20 Cup, hit 166 from 247 balls as the home side, who faced only four overs on the rain-hit first day, reached 349-9.
They had earlier found themselves struggling on 16-3 after opener Ian Westwood (5) angled a catch to second slip and Ian Bell (2) tickled a leg-side chance to wicketkeeper Andrew Hodd.
The latter, released from the England squad to play in this match, made only two singles from 30 balls and was clearly annoyed at missing an opportunity to impress.
Trott and Jim Troughton (18) put on 55 before the latter fell to Ollie Rayner's off-spin, the latter then appearing at second slip to catch Tim Ambrose (28) off Yasir Arafat.
Rikki Clarke (36) hit one six and hit five fours before falling to Luke Wright - Ed Joyce holding the catch at the second attempt - before Ant Botha joined Trott in raising the fourth consecutive stand of 50 or more.
Their partnership reached 96 before Arafat eventually bowled Botha (46) and Trott's 326-minute innings ended when he bottom edged a pull off Wright to Hodd.
Day one
Warwickshire and Sussex endured a frustrating first day after rain dominated their LV County Championship Division One basement clash at Edgbaston.
The Bears welcomed England reject Ian Bell back into their squad following his release from Ashes duties, however that was their only moment of cheer on a bleak opening day.
Bell enjoyed a brief visit to the middle when Tony Frost was lbw to Yasir Arafat from the last ball of third over, but was not required to take strike as Ian Westwood played out a maiden from Corey Collymore.
Overnight rain delayed the start by an hour and Warwickshire only made 5-1 in a 15-minute session before the first of the day's heavy downpours.
