Matthew Wood scored an epic double century at Headingley today as Yorkshire batted on against Warwickshire in a successful quest for maximum batting bonus points.

They declared at 408 for six immediately Wood had struck the boundary which took him to 200 off 339 balls with 23 classic fours.

But the Tykes' championship chances were receding as leaders Leicestershire moved close to an innings victory over Essex.

Yorkshire resumed their first innings on 311 for five in 102 overs with the 21-year-old Wood on 160 and Hamilton 31, the sixth wicket pair having added 58 in 12 overs together.

It was Wood's career-best score and his third championship century in seven matches on the ground since making his debut in the competition at the beginning of the season.

He came in at 41 for two yesterday and by the end of the day had faced 285 balls and struck 20 top quality boundaries to all parts of the field, his most prolific stand being 137 in 41 overs with Richard Blakey whose modest contribution was 29.

Hamilton had wasted no time in moving the score along when he came in and he continued to do much of the early scoring today, driving Ed Giddins through mid-off for a fluent boundary.

Both batsmen made smooth progress against Giddins and Tim Munton and Hamilton got up on the backfoot to crack Giddins through the covers for another four which took him to his 50 off 69 balls with six boundaries.

Hamilton has now scored six half-centuries in his last 13 championship innings as well as taking a stack of wickets in what has become an astonishingly successful season for the all-rounder.

Wood sent his score climbing to 171 at 346 for five off 112 overs when Dougie Brown took over from Giddins but in the same over Yorkshire reached 350 to claim maximum batting bonus points.

No declaration was forthcoming and the plan was probably to steam on and try to reach around 400 as quickly as possible.

The score continued to mount and it became a century stand in 24 overs.

Although Wood kept his score ticking over it was almost an hour before he produced his first boundary of the day by on-driving Brown to the fence.

Hamilton was just one run short of a career-best 79 when he hooked at Brown and was caught at long leg by Giddins after facing 104 balls and belting eight fours during a 142 stand in 30 overs with Wood.

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