Yorkshire suffered yet more final day frustration as Warwickshire secured an LV= Insurance County Championship draw at Headingley.
Fourth-wicket pair Will Rhodes and Sam Hain both hit centuries and batted through the entire fourth day unbroken to advance the Bears from 57-3 overnight – a deficit of 148 at that stage – to 252-3.
When the players shook hands at 4.50pm, the visitors led by 47 with 21 overs remaining.
Unbeaten Yorkshire had been confident of forcing home a second win in six Division One games, but were left settling for a fifth successive draw to go with the opening week win at Gloucestershire.
Left-handed Rhodes, 10 overnight, finished on 111 not out and Sam Hain advanced from 19 to 109.
The shared an unbroken 227 inside 104 overs from deep into the third evening.
The pitch, which had been two-paced and offering some turn on day three, seemed to improve to suit the experienced visiting pair.
Steve Patterson tried everything to break through, but an attack missing some significant bowling firepower in Ben Coad, Matthew Fisher, Dom Leech and Haris Rauf were unable to cause the reigning champions significant problems.
In the end, Yorkshire, who had much the better of this fixture, were left with 14 points to Warwickshire’s 11 and have moved third in Division One on 90 – 15 points behind leaders Surrey.
After winning at Bristol, victory chances at Northamptonshire and Essex were not able to be converted, as was the case against Kent and now Warwickshire at home.
Patterson employed double spin in the form of Dom Bess and Joe Root either side of lunch, and the hosts had taken the new ball early in the afternoon with Warwickshire on 146-3, 59 behind with a minimum of 57 overs remaining.
There were a few stifled lbw appeals through the day, while edges from Rhodes off Bess and Patterson either flashed beyond Harry Brook at second slip or dropped short of Root at first.
The one which fell short of Root briefly forced the former England captain off the field to have his right thumb strapped. But he returned to field in the same position.
Hain and Rhodes reached their hundreds off successive balls after tea as Warwickshire moved to 232-3, a lead of 27 with almost 30 overs remaining.
Hain’s second of 2022 came up off 308 balls and a first for Rhodes off 268.
They had only just recorded their double century partnership to ensure Warwickshire’s survival bid was a successful one.
Hain was particularly strong on the cut shot. He uppercut Matthew Revis for his only six to go with 12 boundaries. Rhodes confidently pulled and worked through leg, hitting 13 fours.
Yorkshire, who employed eight bowlers in the second innings, are back in action on Wednesday when they start their Vitality Blast campaign against Worcestershire at Headingley.
