WARWICKSHIRE maintained their hopes of winning the County Championship title today, ending Yorkshire’s in the process, with a decisive final day victory at Headingley.

The Bears defended a 224 target to win by 106 runs and move to second in the Division One table before next week’s blockbuster final round, just 3.5 points behind leaders Hampshire.

Heading into that final round, the top four teams in the division are separated by just 6.5 points in the race for the championship title and qualification for the Bob Willis Trophy final.

After a third day washout due to rain, Yorkshire resumed day four on 50 for three and were bowled out for 117 inside 75 minutes of play. Chris Woakes claimed three for 26, while Tim Bresnan finished with six catches in the innings at first slip.

He is only the third Bear to achieve that feat in first-class cricket, alongside Rikki Clarke with seven and MJK Smith with six.

With the T20 World Cup looming, Warwickshire coach Mark Robinson hoped England officials would allow Woakes to stay available for the Bears as they enter the decisive end of their season.

“We hope the ECB will allow a person who is a Bear through and through and hasn’t played a lot of cricket to have the opportunity of helping his team win a Championship. Those opportunities don’t come around very often,” the Guardian quoted him as saying.

Hampshire lead the table with 58.5 points, trailed by Warwickshire on 55, Lancashire on 54.5, Nottinghamshire on 52, Yorkshire on 41.5 and Somerset on 26.5.

Teams claim 16 points for a win, plus bonus points based on batting and bowling performance in the first innings. This falls to eight points a piece for a tie and three points each for a draw, plus first-innings points.