County Championship: Lancashire in charge against Warwickshire at Edgbaston

Sam Hain proved the man man in the spotlight for Warwickshire, top scoring with 52

Lancashire took charge on the first day of their potential relegation decider with Warwickshire as they bowled the hosts out for just 219 at Edgbaston.

If Hampshire beat Durham, a scenario which looks more likely after the hosts closed on 370-6 at Southampton, then the losers of this match will go down.

Sixth-placed Lancashire already have the edge, Tom Bailey taking 4-52, backed up by Jordan Clark's 3-20.

Openers Haseeb Hameed and Rob Jones saw out nine overs, closing on 14-0.

One-Day Cup winners Warwickshire, who began the day in seventh place, just eight points clear of Hampshire, only earned a single batting bonus point.

• Read more: What are the Division One relegation permutations?

After choosing to bowl, Lancashire, who have lost just once in their last 21 Championship encounters with the Bears, began well when former captain Ian Westwood was lbw to Bailey's fourth ball.

Lord's man of the match Jonathan Trott reached 1,000 first-class runs for the seventh time in his career, while reserve wicketkeeper Alex Mellor made 27 as a makeshift opener.

But only Sam Hain (52) reached a half-century for the home side, supported by 37 from captain Ian Bell, before Tim Ambrose was run out in a mix-up for a three-ball duck.

Although the Bears built a series of promising partnerships, they failed to make any of them sufficiently substantial.

Lancashire's young openers then reached the close together, although England tour party call-up Hameed was dropped on two by Rikki Clarke at second slip off Lancastrian Keith Barker.

Warwickshire, who have failed to win at home all season, have not gone through a whole summer without a Championship win at Edgbaston since 2000.

Warwickshire director of cricket Dougie Brown told BBC WM:

"It's hard to know what sort of total that is until both sides have batted. Judging by the overs we bowled there is still plenty in the pitch and it is probably going to deteriorate quite quickly.

"It has been quite difficult to score on all day. Credit to Lancs, they bowled very well. Very disciplined. But unless something changes markedly, which we don't expect, it will remain difficult.

"Are the players feeling the pressure? I don't think so. We are trying to take the pressure off them. At the moment it all looks pretty cosy for Lancs but if it comes down to the last part of the game and they are in a run-chase for 240/250 then all of a sudden comes the realisation that they are in a real run-chase to remain in Division One.

"We have just got to focus on getting to that point in the game. We are the ones under pressure at the moment but we need to stay calm and stay relaxed and make sure we go out there and be patient."

Lancashire fast bowler Tom Bailey told BBC Radio Lancashire:

"Bowling them out was our goal this morning when we decided not to toss up. In the last two games, we've gone into day one bowling, and we've wanted to bowl them out in the day but haven't. So it was about time we did it.

"We just kept our plans pretty simple and told ourselves to bowl top of off-stump. If we do that on that sort of pitch things will come. Thankfully, they did.

"It was a tough nine overs batting we had to face before close, with a dropped catch. We were pretty fortunate there, but it's been a good day.

"If we lose and Hampshire win, we're down, so that's always in the back of your mind. But you've just got to stick to your plans. Our goal now is to bat big and bat once."