County Championship: Warwickshire beat Nottinghamshire by 170 runs

Warwickshire closed the gap on the top two sides in Group One with a 170-run win over Nottinghamshire.

That was set up after the Bears added 63 runs to their overnight 201-6 to finish on 264 in their second innings.

Briggs made a half-century before going on to claim crucial wickets in a victory that moves them up to third.

Warwickshire’s second win of the season over Nottinghamshire means just seven points separate the top three sides in the group.

Leaders Essex, who have played a game more than both Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire, are just five and seven points clear of second and third place respectively.

While Warwickshire’s margin of victory may ultimately look convincing, the game was in the balance for the first three days.

The hosts’ quick run-scoring in the morning session helped push their lead past 300 as Michael Burgess (80) and Briggs (50) took their seventh-wicket partnership to 103.

The early wicket of Notts opener Haseeb Hameed, caught behind off Liam Norwell in the fourth over, gave the Bears the perfect platform.

Notts’ chances of mounting a serious top-order effort at chasing the target were dashed after lunch.

Ben Slater, Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke and Steven Mullaney all fell to a combination of loose strokes and well-executed bowling plans that left them 123-5 at tea.

Warwickshire pressed on in the final session and while it took until the last half hour to wrap up the win, Briggs’ miserly spell of 11 consecutive maidens kept the pressure on.

They included the wickets of Lyndon James, Zak Chapple and finally Luke Fletcher to secure them a third win from seven games.

Warwickshire spinner Danny Briggs:

“It was a great game on a good pitch and a good contest between bat and ball for four days which is what you want. Then for us to come out on top at the end is just great.

“It was pleasing to have an opportunity for a long bowl on the final day and really embrace it. We bowled and caught really well. The calmness we showed was probably what enabled us to win.

“Having the fans back in the ground was amazing. There was a great atmosphere. It was my first experience of having the crowd behind me at Edgbaston and I loved it. They got behind us when we needed it.”

Nottinghamshire head coach Peter Moores:

“We feel absolutely gutted. They bowled well but in some ways, we caused our own demise a little bit. We have got to dust ourselves down and come back strong against Essex on Thursday.

“It was a tight game all the way through. Probably the key time was the third day when they played really well but we managed to stay in the game.

“Then we cleaned them out this morning to leave all three results possible but we got a bit distracted by looking for the win a little bit when we first started batting and made some mistakes.”