ALTHOUGH Yorkshire gained promotion in the Championship last season they have not won a match in the competition since July 23 and were determined to end a sequence of one defeat and seven draws in the game against Warwickshire which began at Edgbaston today.

With bad weather preventing any of their batsmen getting to the crease in the Championship opener at Trent Bridge last week, Yorkshire were relieved to hear a much better forecast and with it the prospect of mainly uninterrupted play.

The one change in their squad of 12 is Hull-based paceman Steve Patterson standing down in order to accommodate Australian fast bowler Jason Gillespie, who was itching to get his Yorkshire debut under way.

Yorkshire have played Warwickshire in only one season out of the past six in the Championship and that was four years ago when they drew at Headingley and lost at Edgbaston by six wickets

Batting first, Warwickshire piled up 601-9 declared, their highest score against Yorkshire, Dominic Ostler leading the way with 225 off 239 balls with 40 fours and a six.

That was the highest individual knock against Yorkshire in five years and Ostler took part in four century stands in the innings, the most ever recorded in a Yorkshire match.

Yorkshire followed on after making a respectable 351 and they did even better in their second innings with 481 out of which Australian Matthew Elliott plundered 127 and Richard Blakey 103.

For a while it seemed that Yorkshire had done enough to pull off a shock win but Mike Powell and Mark Wagh soon put Warwickshire back in charge with an opening stand of 175 which plunged Yorkshire to another defeat and saw them relegated after finishing the previous season as county champions.

Meanwhile, England captain Michael Vaughan and Yorkshire's South African fast bowler Deon Kruis both continue their quest for full fitness under the guidance of physiotherapist Scott McAllister.

No date has been set for either to return but Kruis has got his sights set on being ready for Yorkshire's Championship visit to Kent at Canterbury in a fortnight's time.

YORKSHIRE (v Warwickshire) from: Wood, Sayers, McGrath, Lumb, Lehmann, White, Brophy, Bresnan, Dawson, Gillespie, Blain, Claydon.

Updated: 10:41 Wednesday, April 26, 2006