HAVING found precious little in the Edgbaston wicket to encourage their bowlers, Derbyshire gritted their teeth and settled for the next-best thing.

They could be satisfied, at the end of their first day of their LV County Championship match against Warwickshire, at having done as much as they could to make life difficult for their opponents.

It did not make for the most exciting days of cricket you could ever wish to see. In fact, if you can conjure a mental image of a grey and cheerless day in Birmingham, this was the perfect day's cricket to accompany it.

But it was important for Derbyshire that they did not allow Warwickshire to cut loose after winning the toss and tight bowling held the home side to 209-3.

This is becoming a ground on which it is increasingly difficult to win a four-day game and, while it would be great for them to beat one of the Division Two front-runners, the first priority for Derbyshire here is to make sure they do not lose more ground on the second-placed side.

There was enough movement in the first hour for Warwickshire to have plenty to occupy them and Derbyshire had the encouragement of a wicket in the sixth over to drive them on.

Graham Wagg, who never needs an added incentive to do well against the county that nurtured his talents and let him go in 2004, claimed the wicket as he lured Ian Westwood into the drive and Rikki Clarke took a good catch above his head at second slip.

That was 9-1 and Wagg (pictured right) went on to have a good opening spell. Charl Langeveldt, in search of the three wickets he needs to take him to 50 in the Championship this season, also beat the bat and had a couple of good shouts for lbw but steadily the task became less awkward for the Warwickshire batsmen.

Darren Maddy and Tony Frost added 73 in 21 overs for the second wicket before, with two overs to lunch, Frost mistimed a pull at Wavell Hinds and was caught at midwicket by Paul Borrington.

That is now eight wickets in 38 overs over the course of the last four Championship innings for Hinds and his seemingly inoffensive medium pace bowling. He is becoming a bit of a partnership-breaker.

But there seemed to be no way past Maddy, who has struggled for runs since recovering from a broken thumb this season.

The Warwickshire captain moved smoothly on to 73, including 10 fours, and appeared set for a second Championship century of the season, only to cut a ball from Jon Clare straight to Wagg at backward point.

It was a loose shot that maybe could be attributed to the pressure the Derbyshire bowlers had put Warwickshire under.

With Nayan Doshi doing a fine job in getting through 23 overs for only 47 runs – an analysis on the first day of a match any captain would happily accept from their spinner – Warwickshire were allowed to score at less than three an over.

When play was cut short by 22 overs because of bad light, Jon Trott remained for the home side on 62 not out and had played very sensibly.

It was interesting only for those who like their sport attritional but Derbyshire's task now is to make sure they do not let their opponents off the hook.