Rhodes: "We have certainly put ourselves in the frame with two big wins"

A third-day washout at Edgbaston sentenced the derby to a draw but the Bears still sit second in the group as they take a break this week before returning to action against Essex at Chelmsford next Thursday.

And captain Rhodes was happy with much of the performance against the Pears, not least another fine hundred from Rob Yates and a first century for the club by Michael Burgess.

"When you have a day washed out on a very good wicket, it's always going to be tough to force a result," he said. "It would have been nice to pick up that extra bowling point on the last day but we took 13 points and that's quite a strong haul.

"We took a lot from the game. Yatesy played beautifully again and is certainly finding his feet at this level and established in our team which is great to see from a young, home-grown guy. It was great to see Burge get a big score too. He has been working really hard to get back into form so to see him get over the line and his first hundred for the Bears was brilliant.

"The boys have a few days off now where they can get some well-deserved rest and recovery and then hopefully we will have Dom Sibley back for the Essex game which would be a massive boost."

The Bears have reached the halfway stage of the group well-placed courtesy of some excellent cricket to beat Nottinghamshire and Essex. But Rhodes also took pleasure from the way his team bounced back against Worcestershire last week following a heavy defeat at Durham.

"Durham were a very good side and we weren't unlucky up there, we just got outplayed," the skipper said. "But we are not the finished product by a long chalk and a developing side is always going to have blips like that.