Warwickshire crowned County Championship champions with innings win over Leicestershire

Warwickshire seal title at Edgbaston

Warwickshire were crowned County Championship champions after beating Leicestershire by an innings and 79 runs at Edgbaston.

The Bears entered the third day needing seven wickets to clinch the title, while the visitors required 182 more runs to force Warwickshire back into bat.

Early breakthroughs set the tone

Chris Woakes got the hosts off to the ideal start by bowling Sol Budinger for 47 and the former England all-rounder soon struck again when his delivery to Jonathan Tattersall was caught by Rob Yates at slip.

Leicestershire began to crumble as Ethan Bamber claimed the scalps of Ben Cox and Ben Green in quick succession and skipper Ian Holland was trapped lbw by Ed Barnard as the hosts closed in on the pennant.

Final-wicket resistance broken

Ajaz Patel was bowled by Manav Suthar, but Leicestershire dug in with a productive final-wicket partnership between Tom Scriven and Josh Hull.

Shortly after lunch Bamber found the breakthrough to bowl Scriven for 49 and finish with a five-wicket haul, sealing the title for Warwickshire.