County Championship: Warwickshire chase down 333 to beat Nottinghamshire by three wickets

Tim Bresnan struck eight fours in his match-winning 68 not out at Trent Bridge

Tim Bresnan struck a superb 68 not out as Warwickshire chased 333 to beat Nottinghamshire by three wickets.

The hosts looked favourites to end their near three-year wait for a County Championship win when they reduced the Bears to 184-6 shortly after lunch.

But Bresnan and Olly Stone (43) built a seventh-wicket partnership of 113 to turn the game in the last two sessions.

Stone fell to Stuart Broad with 36 runs still needed but Bresnan survived being dropped on 56 to steer the Bears home.

Warwickshire had resumed the final day on 85-3 in their second innings knowing they realistically had just six wickets remaining, although England Test opener Dom Sibley, sidelined by a fractured finger earlier in the match, was padded up ready to bat.

But Sam Hain (57) and Matt Lamb (50) guided them through the morning session unscathed to 167-3 despite a probing spell of fast bowling from England Test bowler Broad, particularly to Hain.

Notts came roaring back in the afternoon session as Dane Paterson (3-77) removed Hain, Lamb and Michael Burgess in quick succession as the Bears slipped from 174-3 to 184-6 in less than six overs.

That brought Bresnan and Stone together and they stood firm, Stone surviving a blow to his arm from Broad to reach tea on 237-6.

Broad eventually broke their resistance on 297-7, with Tom Moores clinging on to an outside edge from Stone, but the Notts wicketkeeper could not hang on to a tougher chance three runs later when he put down Bresnan off Broad.

That was enough of a lifeline for the former Yorkshire all-rounder to get his side over the line alongside Danny Briggs (16 not out).

Nottinghamshire, relegated from Division One without a single victory in 2019 and limited to only five winless Bob Willis Trophy games in 2020, have not triumphed in first-class county cricket since beating Essex at Chelmsford in June 2018.

Nottinghamshire head coach Peter Moores:

"It is a tough one to take. Whenever you put everything into a contest and don't get anything out of it, you have to take it on the chin, but that's what sport is.

"Games here at Trent Bridge are tough to win and it has gone down to the wire again. The hope was that the pitch would deteriorate a bit more but it played well.

"Stuart Broad led the attack. He was hugely up for it as he always is, and he and Dane Paterson were magnificent.

"But Warwickshire played really well. You have to give a lot of credit to Stone and Bresnan."

Warwickshire head coach Mark Robinson:

"We were outstanding with the ball on Saturday, which allowed us to get a foothold, and Lamb and Hain showed a lot of character and courage in getting us through to lunch when they were facing Stuart Broad bowling like it was a Test match.

"Then you start to hope and believe and it was the same at tea, when we still needed 90-odd and Tim Bresnan was saying to the lads 'It's on this. boys, it's on' and was excited like a 20-year-old.

"Obviously we lost Dom Sibley early on and that really hit us on that first evening. But he was padded up to go in because he wanted to help us get over the line.

"He has a nasty little fracture. He's seeing another specialist. It would be wrong for me to speculate how long it might be before he can play again."