Patel takes 10 wickets in match as Bears beat Sussex

Bears spinner Jeetan Patel has taken 15 Sussex wickets inside a month

Warwickshire kept their title hopes alive by completing an expected innings victory over Sussex at Edgbaston.

New Zealand off-spinner Jeetan Patel took 6-111 to end up with 10 wickets in the match as Sussex were finally bowled out in mid-afternoon for 219.

Resuming on 71-2, Ed Joyce reached 74, while skipper Mike Yardy batted though to make 62 not out.

But Patel proved the difference as the Bears sealed their seventh Championship win of 2011 by an innings and 43 runs.

Warwickshire's 23 points from the match moves them to within eight of leaders Durham, on whom they have a game in hand.

Patel's match return of 10 for 163 gave him a total of 15 wickets in a back-to-back double over Sussex in the space of three weeks.

Yet he only played in this match because of the complexity of the visa application system which has so far delayed the arrival of West Indies batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul to fill in the overseas position.

Chris Woakes claimed his 200th first-class wicket in 56 matches when Joyce was lbw for 74 and the England seamer also accounted for Andrew Hodd with an edge to third slip.

Patel then speeded up Warwickshire's progress to a fifth win in six games, Sussex proving no better equipped to deal with him on a turning surface than they were when he took 5-96 in the Bears' eight-wicket success at Arundel at the beginning of the month.

Warwickshire, who last won the County Championship under Darren Maddy's captaincy in 2004, are now undisputedly in a three-way battle for the title.

That race will hot up when they take on second-placed Lancashire at Aigburth, starting on Sunday week.

But they must head for Liverpool without two of their batsmen, who are nursing fractures.

Maddy was already ruled out, but fellow former skipper Ian Westwood broke the little finger in his right hand when taking a catch on Friday.

POST-MATCH VIEWS

Warwickshire paceman Chris Woakes:

"Batting first on a wicket that was always going to do a bit, it was a great achievement to get 500 and, from then on, it was just a matter of getting 20 wickets.

"There's not really much talk about the Championship. I know it's quite close at the top between Durham, ourselves and Lancashire so it's just a matter of keep performing and trying to win every game as it comes.

"I was aware I was pretty close to 200 wickets. I'm delighted to get there and hopefully there's many more to come."