County Championship: David Bedingham shines again as Durham draw with Warwickshire

South African batman David Bedingham's Durham run tally for the season now stands at 879

David Bedingham moved to within 121 of 1,000 first-class runs for the season as Durham's rain-wrecked trip to Edgbaston ended in a frustrating draw.

After resuming on 173-5, just 28 overs were possible, in which Bedingham moved on from his overnight 37 to 92 not out.

Warwickshire paceman Craig Miles also struck again to complete a five-wicket haul before hands were shaken at 16:30 BST with Durham on 253-7.

The Bears are now six points behind leaders Notts, while Durham go third.

But Durham suffered a two-point penalty for a slow over rate to earn only 11 points, which takes their overall tally to 122. They now host Group One pace-setters Notts (137 points) next Sunday in the final round of fixtures before the mid-season split.

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The Bears, who claimed 12 points to move to 131 overall in second, go to New Road to meet local rivals Worcestershire, needing to win to be sure of a top-two finish - and a place in the revamped First Division.

But, if they lost, fourth-placed Essex (on 118) could still yet finish second in the group, if they win well against the bottom and winless side, Derbyshire.

Bedingham, the country's top scorer, was the first to reach 800 Championship runs on Tuesday - and he went on to reach 50 for the 22nd time in his first-class career and the sixth time in nine games this season.

His 73-run sixth wicket stand with Ned Eckersley also brought up the 200 for Durham and earned a first batting point.

But Eckersley's dismissal by Rob Yates - his maiden first-class wicket - also brought the Bears a potentially important extra bonus point.

Warwickshire first team coach Mark Robinson:

"At Edgbaston you generally need the four days to get a result because it is such a good cricket wicket. Our victories here have come on the last day. Once you lose a day, it needs one team to play really badly to get into a mess and that didn't happen.

"Rob Yates is very impressive. To have three hundreds already this season, a 21-year-old student juggling his exams, is outstanding.

"He had a tough time with his illness, went back in the second team, scored 90, told me he's okay and then came back in here and played as though he'd never been away

"Craig Miles had grown day by day this season. He has fully deserved consecutive 'five-fers' and been really good for us across the board this year. He's become an important fixture in the T20."

Durham batsman David Bedingham:

"It was quite frustrating. We lost out on quite a lot of points, unfortunately, but our game next week is a massive game and hopefully we can pull through.

"That is quite an exciting prospect. Nottinghamshire are playing really good cricket at the moment but we are too, so it will be a good game, one that we can all be excited about.

"I feel that I hit the ball quite nicely in this game and hopefully that will continue against Notts."