Notts had been 310-4 overnight, leading by 130. Warwickshire had created a potential opportunity for themselves by taking three wickets in the last hour of Sunday’s play. To turn that into a win, though, they needed realistically to make similar inroads on the final morning. Verreynne and Clarke denied them any.
Haseeb Hameed (116) and Ben Duckett (93) gave the second innings strong foundations with a 150-run partnership for the second wicket on Sunday, but both fell before the close, giving Warwickshire’s bowlers fresh impetus for the final day.
With a ball that was only seven overs old on the resumption, there were promising early signs for the visitors as Ethan Bamber forced an inside edge by Verreynne that did not miss the stumps by much and Chris Woakes made a confident appeal for leg before against the same batter, which probably failed only on height.
Yet as the session developed, Verreynne and Clarke looked increasingly secure. The lead had grown to 232 by lunch, at which point the partnership was worth 126 and both protagonists had half-centuries under their belts.
There was much to commend about the commitment of all six Warwickshire seamers in trying to make something happen but Clarke and Verreynne seldom allowed their concentration to waver, which was particularly important when the sunshine of the morning gave way to cloud cover for a period after lunch.
Bears captain Ed Barnard eventually looked to his spinners to carry the workload, with versatile Australia Test seamer Beau Webster eventually lending his off-breaks to the cause.
Yet apart from fellow off-spinner Rob Yates cashing in as Clarke’s patience finally cracked at three minutes to three, no gains were made until after tea, by which time Webster’s dismissal of Verreynne, bowled sweeping after hitting 10 fours in a 283-minute vigil, and an excellent slip catch by Barnard to remove Liam Patterson-White (five) were inconsequential.
After the formality of a Notts declaration, handshakes were exchanged at ten to five.
Report by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay.
