Warwickshire tore up the record book and then began to rip apart Yorkshire who got into ever deeper trouble in their Championship match at Edgbaston yesterday.

Dominic Ostler weighed in with a brutal 225, the highest individual score against Yorkshire in five years, as Warwickshire piled up 601 for nine declared to leave the County Champions wanting 452 just to avoid the follow-on.

They sacrificed wickets in a brave attempt to stay positive and at the close were 261 for six with another 191 required to make Warwickshire bat again - and virtually all hope gone of avoiding relegation.

Ostler stood on 126 when Warwickshire resumed in the morning on 374 for five and little did Yorkshire guess at that stage that he was just over half way through his innings.

He bludgeoned Yorkshire's weary attack to all parts of the ground with ruthless precision and by the time he was out just before lunch he had smashed 40 fours and a six and faced 239 balls.

Ostler featured in four century partnerships which was the highest number ever recorded by any side in a Yorkshire match and Warwickshire's 601 was their biggest total against the county, beating their 536 for seven declared at Birmingham in 1929.

Ostler's 225 was the biggest effort by a Warwickshire batsman against Yorkshire, overtaking Crowther Charlesworth's 206 at Dewsbury in 1914, and it was the heaviest scoring innings since Alec Stewart's 271 not out for Surrey at The Oval in 1997.

Steven Kirby, who was warned by umpire Vanburn Holder for bowling a beamer which hit Mohammad Sheikh on the left hand, was flogged for 161 off 30 overs which brought him one wicket, but Ryan Sidebottom, Nick Thornicroft and Richard Dawson also went for 100-plus runs.

Yorkshire knew that their only chance of long-term survival lay in a counter attack and after Vic Craven had soon edged Neil Carter to slip, Australian Matthew Elliott and Anthony McGrath set about the bowling with considerable force in a 97 stand in 15 overs.

Elliott decided to take on spinners Mark Wagh and Jamie Spires and he rushed to his 50 with two colossal sixes and two fours in one over from Wagh who went on to break the partnership by trapping McGrath lbw for 56 from 52 balls with nine boundaries.

Then left-armer Spires got the big wicket by bowling Elliott.