Preview: Yorkshire v Warwickshire, LV= Insurance County Championship

Warwickshire captain Will Rhodes will lead his team into action against Yorkshire in Leeds in search of a victory to preserve their hopes of lifting the LV= Insurance County Championship title.

Rhodes admits that last week's 60-run defeat to Hampshire at Edgbaston was "a bitter pill to swallow" after a relentlessly tight and hard-fought game eventually went against them.

The defeat dented the Bears' title aspirations, but has not terminated them. The result condensed the race for the championship, with Hampshire climbing above the Bears, but Rhodes's side remain in that race.

They need leaders Nottinghamshire to slip up but. if the Bears win their last two games, away to Yorkshire then at home to Somerset, they will probably take the title.

In a season when they have been hard hit at times by injuries and international calls, it's an excellent effort to still be in contention.

Rhodes' side, still quite early in its development, has delivered some strong and impressive red ball cricket and now the captain will demand two big last efforts from his team, starting in Leeds tomorrow.

"The defeat to Hampshire was a bitter pill to swallow," he said. "After fighting so hard all through the game it was a tough one to lose and, at the end of the season, that may be the game we look back on as costing us. But we are still in the mix. We have two games to go and have just got to try to win them and see where it takes us.

"I am really proud of the players. They have given everything for the Bears throughout a long season and have played some really good red ball cricket and had some great wins.

"There are some tired bodies and minds in the camp. Guys like Craig Miles and Liam Norwell have bowled a lot of overs and were brilliant in the game week, and we have batters who have been playing all season. I know they will keep on giving and the great thing is, wherever we finish this season, we will take so much from this year. This group is quite young and will be together for some time to come and will only get better."

Tomorrow the Bears will face a Yorkshire side which powered back into the title equation after a crushing win over Somerset last week lifted them into third place, 2.5 points ahead of the Bears and 10.5 behind leaders Notts.

“Anything can happen now,” said Yorkshire first team coach Andrew Gale. “We’ve probably got to win two out of two, but we’re perfectly capable of doing that, Beating a strong Somerset side inside two days was a fantastic effort. From start to finish, the lads dominated the game."

The auspices are good for a fine match this week. The Bears' two most recent championship visits to the White Rose have produced cracking games; a three-wicket win at York last year and two-wicket defeat at Headingley in 2017.

Squad

Rhodes (c), Benjamin, Bresnan, Briggs, Burgess (wk), Hain, Holder, Lamb, Miles, Norwell, Sibley, Woakes, Yates.

How to follow

Warwickshire Members and supporters will be able to follow all the action from Edgbaston via the Match Centre on edgbaston.com and through the Edgbaston app (available on iOS and Android).