RANA Naved demolished Warwickshire’s middle order yesterday but a century from Jonathan Trott and some poor Yorkshire discipline with the ball in the final session looks to have cost the Tykes victory.

The overseas star took three wickets for no runs in seven deliveries in the morning session, but Yorkshire frittered away their dominance when allowing Warwickshire to score 193 runs between tea and the close.

When Rikki Clarke was the sixth man out early in the afternoon, the hosts still required 313 to avoid the follow-on and seemed unlikely to get any bonus points.

But Trott led the counter attack with a fabulous unbeaten 140, sharing a partnership of 181 undefeated for the ninth wicket with Jeetan Patel that shattered an 84-year-old record.

Not only did Warwickshire accumulate an unlikely five batting bonus points, they reached 422 for eight at stumps, just 29 away from the follow-on target. Should they reach that mark on the fourth morning, the game will peter out into stalemate.

It all started brightly for the Tykes, Ian Bell mistiming a pull to mid-wicket off Deon Kruis before Rana removed Ian Westwood (41) and Jim Troughton (0) in consecutive deliveries, both leg-before to inswingers.

Better was to follow when Tim Ambrose nicked to Gerard Brophy in Rana’s next over.

Yorkshire kept chipping away despite the frustration of four short interruptions due to rain either side of lunch.

But Trott dug in to frustrate Yorkshire, gaining valuable support from both Neil Carter (32) and Chris Woakes (30) before Patel chipped in with his careerbest in first-class cricket of 89 not out, smashing Adil Rashid from the attack at one stage, leaving the draw the most likely result.

Yorkshire became demoralised in the evening session and only Rana was able to maintain quality as he probed away with the ball.

The White Rose county may even be able to call upon Rana for the domestic Twenty20 campaign after he issued a plea to the Pakistan Cricket Board.

As things stand, Rana’s contract with the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) means that Yorkshire would be in a difficult position by fielding him in the Twenty20 Cup.

The winning county qualifies for the lucrative, proposed Champions League later in the year but those with ICL players would not be invited.

But after being selected in Pakistan’s provisional squad for next month’s ICC World Twenty20, Rana has stated that he’d give up his ICL deal if he’s to be part of the international set-up.

Ending that association would free him to figure for Yorkshire when crash, bang, wallop returns on May 25.

“We’re all here to serve our country, if the PCB wants us to,” said the 31- year-old.

“No one from the PCB has contacted us yet with regards to cancelling our ICL contracts and representing Pakistan.

“We can’t simply cancel our (ICL) contracts just to get the Board to talk to us.

What will happen if we cancel our contracts and then get dumped by the PCB as well?”

Scoreboard

Warwickshire v Yorkshire At Edgbaston

Overnight: Yorkshire 600-8 dec (A McGrath 211, J J Sayers 173, J A Rudolph 62; N M Carter 4-129). Warwickshire 81-1.

Warwickshire First Innings Close

I J Westwood lbw b Naved-ul-Hasan ....41

I R Bell c Shahzad b Kruis ...................37

I J Trott not out ......................................140

J O Troughton lbw b Naved-ul-Hasan ... 0

T R Ambrose c Brophy b N-ul-Hasan .... 0

R Clarke b Shahzad ........................... 9

N M Carter b A U Rashid ......................32

C R Woakes b A U Rashid ....................30

J S Patel not out .......................... 89

Extras (b16 lb14 nb6 pens 0) ......36

Total 8 wkts (107 overs)...............422

Fall: 1-12 2-90 3-119 4-119 5-121 6-138 7-193 8-241

To Bat: W B Rankin.

Bonus Pts: Warwickshire 0 Yorkshire 5

Hoggard 14-2-56-0. Kruis 17-2-75-2. A U Rashid 22-6-89-2. Naved-ul-Hasan 24-5-88- 3. Shahzad 16-2-53-1. McGrath 14-4-31-0.