Warwickshire and Lancashire frustrated by the weather in drawn clash

The frustration was greater for Lancashire who had taken control of the match on the third day and were waiting to resume their second innings on 182 for 6, already 297 ahead

Edgbaston (day four of four): Lancashire 327 & 182-6, Warwickshire 212 - match drawn

Warwickshire and Lancashire were forced to settle for a draw as rain washed out the final day of their LV= Insurance County Championship at Edgbaston.

The frustration was greater for Lancashire who had taken control of the match on the third day and were waiting to resume their second innings on 182 for six, already 297 ahead.

Persistent rain arrived as forecast, however, so they were denied a chance to push for a victory to crown a strong performance from a reshuffled side showing five changes from the team beaten by Essex at Blackpool the previous week.

Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings cut a frustrated figure, believing his side were in a "really strong position" to push for a win on day four.

However, he was full of praise for the performance of George Balderson, who scored 116 not out off 235 balls to rescue Lancashire from 91 for 5, and later 150 for 7, before picking up two wickets as Warwickshire were bowled out for 212.

^{George Balderson scored his maiden first-class century [Harry Trump/Getty Images]}

"George Balderson got his maiden hundred and it was fantastic to sit on the sidelines and enjoy it," Jennings said.

"As a captain it's really nice to see a young left-hander making his way in the game and playing so well. He is an outstanding bloke and fine young player. He's worked really hard at his game and in this match showed what he can do against a very good attack. I'm really happy for him."

Looking ahead to next week's meeting with Northamptonshire, he added: "We love playing at home so we have just got to make sure we play four days of good cricket. We have played good cricket this week so we want to carry that on. We have been putting ourselves in wining positions, now it's a case of turning those positions into wins and hopefully the weather will play its part."

Warwickshire were left to digest a slightly disappointing display after the impressive win at Kent a week earlier. They now look ahead to another home game, against Middlesex, starting next Tuesday when they will be without leading seamer Chris Rushworth who suffered a hamstring strain during the Lancashire game.

Head coach, Mark Robinson, said: "The weather this week has been unfortunate because the game was set up for a result if we had played today. We would have had a target of some sort and, although it wasn't the easiest wicket to force the pace on, we would have had a go and tried to win, as we have done all season.

"We probably would have batted first in normal circumstances, but with the forecast for Saturday we all knew it was likely to be a three-day game so we thought bowling first was the best way to get ahead of the game to try to win it in three days.

"We had them 150 for 7 and that was our window but we dropped a catch and Rushy went off and they ended up getting 320 which was probably 70 too many."