RYAN Sidebottom has urged his Yorkshire team-mates to remain patient as the LV= County Championship title race hots up.

The 36-year-old left-arm swing bowler will play against Warwickshire at Edgbaston tomorrow after almost four weeks out with a hamstring injury, replacing Tim Bresnan in a 14-man squad as he rests a sore elbow.

Sidebottom has seen the White Rose frustrated in their bid for victories from the last two matches against Nottinghamshire and Sussex, wins that would have given them clear daylight at the top of Division One.

Instead, they are joint leaders with Notts on 118 points after nine matches.

Sidebottom knows better than anyone what it takes to be a Championship winner, having won it once with Yorkshire and twice with Notts.

And both his wins for Notts in 2005 and 2010 went right down to the wire.

"I have been fortunate to win three Championships, and two of those were on the final day," he said. "That shows you must keep going to the very end.

"Things can change so fast. Win two or three in a row and that is 70 points, throwing you right up there and maybe giving you a bit of a lead. The key is not to get frustrated. Consistency is everything.

"Everyone has a bit of a look at the table, but you really can't read too much into it. Last year, we maybe fell into that trap a bit. We were top of the table and had a decent lead. People kept saying 'Yorkshire should win'.

"Maybe we were a bit immature in that we didn't execute the simple plans that had worked for us all season.

"We lost that big game to Durham, they went on a great run, and that is what I mean by how things can change quickly."

Sidebottom says the last month has been tough for him because "I'm not a good watcher of cricket if injured".

"I just want to be out there performing," he added. "I came back to this club to win things. I didn't come back to just finish my career off with a bit of a knees-up."

Yorkshire hope Adil Rashid returns in time from paternity leave, while Azeem Rafiq has been left out.

Yorks 14-man squad v Warks: Gale c, Bairstow, Brooks, Carver, Finch, Hodd, Leaning, Lees, Lyth, Patterson, Pyrah, Rashid, Shaw, Sidebottom.