Yorkshire's bid to force victory over Warwickshire sank beneath a mountain of runs as the LV County Championship Division One match drifted to a draw at Edgbaston.

A token declaration, leaving a target of 281 in the final session, met with the expected response as the home side reached 60 for one prior to an early closure at 5pm.

In reality the contest was over in meaningful terms early on the final day when Jeetan Patel dabbed a boundary to third man to become the first player to score a century from the number 10 position in Warwickshire's batting order.

The shot brought up New Zealand off-spinner's maiden hundred from 130 balls and also avoided the follow-on during a record-breaking partnership of 233 in 47 overs with Jonathan Trott.

The fourth-highest ninth-wicket stand in the history of the County Championship was the platform for a substantial recovery which, in turn, represented a major putdown for Yorkshire's attack.

Warwickshire still trailed by 359 runs when their eighth wicket went down on the third afternoon but Trott capitalised on consistent support from the lower order to reach an undefeated 161 from 265 balls.

The first-innings deficit had been reduced to 118 when Warwickshire were finally prised out for 482 and Yorkshire topped this up to 280 before declaring at 162 for three during the tea interval.

With Michael Vaughan (hamstring) and Andrew Gale (sickness) kept back for emergencies, there was a hint of trouble when three wickets went down in four overs after lunch.

But it was only a brief alarm before Anthony McGrath, unbeaten with 53 after his 211 in the first innings, and Adil Rashid (58 not out) put on an unbroken 99.

Edgbaston is now rivalling Taunton as the biggest scoring venue on the circuit. Two Championship matches this season have produced 2,610 runs with eight centuries, including two double hundreds, and three county record partnerships.

Fielding lapses were partly responsible for the run-glut in this match - Trott was dropped on 26 - but the imbalance between bat and ball has resulted in nine draws in the last 10 Championship fixtures on the ground.

Patel certainly enjoyed his first experience of a four-day pitch in Birmingham. Having made only two half-centuries in 74 matches before joining Warwickshire, he more than doubled his career-best score after hitting 16 fours and two sixes in his 120 from 155 balls.

Yorkshire were taken to the very last ball of the 120-over cut-off before claiming the third bowling point when Patel's mistimed pull off Ajmal Shahzad was easily held by McGrath at mid-on.

Last man Boyd Rankin was quickly lbw to Matthew Hoggard, leaving Trott undefeated with 19 boundaries in his seventh score of 150 or more.