BEN Coad continued his stunning start to the new Specsavers County Championship season with four wickets as Yorkshire dominated a rain-affected opening day against Warwickshire at Edgbaston.

The new ball seamer struck three times before lunch and once afterwards as the Bears were reduced to 77-7 in bowler-friendly conditions.

Swing aided Yorkshire’s bowlers, although Warwickshire’s batsmen, most notably captain Ian Bell, lent a helping hand too.

They had recovered to 152-8 inside 49 overs by the time a second rain delay forced the players off at 3.30pm, and there was no more play possible.

But, nonetheless, Yorkshire will be delighted with their day’s work as Coad finished with 4-47 from 16 overs.

Eighth-wicket pair Jeetan Patel and Keith Barker were the only two home batsmen to enjoy any success, and they shared an attacking 53, with the former dropped on 14.

Coad was the main positive to come out of last weekend’s opening round home defeat against Hampshire.

In only his second Championship appearance, he returned 6-37 in the first innings and eight overall.

Here, he removed Will Porterfield, Alex Mellor, Jonathan Trott and Rikki Clarke before seeing New Zealand off-spinner Patel dropped at second slip by Adam Lyth.

The drop was Yorkshire’s only significant disappointment of a dominant day against a Warwickshire side who lost by an innings at Surrey last week, were bowled out for 91 and are being tipped to struggle this year.

It allowed Patel the chance to counter-attack during the afternoon, and he slogged Coad for a huge six over mid-wicket on the way to 36.

The day started with Gary Ballance opting to bowl first following an uncontested toss.

Yorkshire included England duo Adil Rashid and David Willey in their line-up following rest and shoulder surgery respectively.

Azeem Rafiq and Josh Shaw were the two to make way from the team which faced Hampshire.

Coad struck first when, bowling from the Birmingham End, he had Porterfield caught at mid-off in the sixth over as the score fell to 21-1.

He then switched ends to the Pavilion End shortly afterwards with great success.

The 23-year-old had Mellor, Warwickshire’s other opener, caught behind in the 15th over before trapping Trott lbw in the 17th, leaving the score at 52-3.

Tim Bresnan got Sam Hain lbw with the last ball of the 20th over as the Bears slipped to 55-4.

And, with only 10 more runs added, Steve Patterson had Bell caught behind as the home skipper attempted a booming drive - 65-5 in the 23rd.

Wickets continued to fall after lunch as, with the seventh ball of the afternoon, Patterson had Tim Ambrose caught behind in a carbon copy of the Bell dismissal.

That left Warwickshire at 73-6 in the 30th before Coad claimed his fourth in the 34th over with 77 on the board when Clarke fell lbw.

By this stage, no home batsman had matched Porterfield’s 16.

Coad would have had five had Lyth held on, but instead the reprieve allowed Patel to bring some respectively to the scorecard with the help of Barker (33 not out).

When Patel did succumb, it was courtesy of a superb Rashid googly in his first over, which bowled him through the gate and left the score 130-8 in the 43rd.