Tim Bresnan revels in denying Lancashire the County Championship title: "I'd be lying if I said it didn't mean anything"

NICK HOWSON: The Yorkshireman celebrates a third title as Warwickshire secure their eighth crown in what could be the first half of a red-ball double

Tim Bresnan couldn't help but take delight from claiming a third LV=Insurance County Championship title with Warwickshire and thus deny Lancashire in a remarkable finale to the regular season.

The Yorkshireman's splendid catch and wicket of Ben Green sparked a Somerset collapse on day four at Edgbaston as Will Rhodes' side left it late again to secure a victory in the final session of the season.

Having beaten Hampshire at Liverpool 24 hours earlier after a thrilling run chase, Lancs had one hand on the trophy overnight. But Bresnan and co had other ideas and produced an epic fourth-day win.

Alongside an eighth title, Warwickshire could add a second red-ball trophy in the form of the Bob Willis Trophy when they face the Red Rose at Lord's next week (September 28-October 2) in what is another opportunity to claim local bragging rights for the ex-England allrounder.

"I got a lot of messages on Twitter from Yorkshire fans saying they're Bears for a day," he told The Cricketer.

"I'd be lying if I said it didn't mean anything. It doesn't run as deep as people think it does but I am just proud to win another County Championship."

"It's up there, I'll be honest with you," added the 35-year-old, who is an Ashes and T20 World Cup winner. "You don't often get a chance to win it on the last day in the last session of a Championship season. 

"We worked really hard for it and that is how we've won our games here. We knew it was going to go deep and it was fantastic to take those wickets. We knew we had one more day to give, leave it all out there on the field and see what happens at the end of the day.

"Nothing worth winning ever comes easy. We have put a lot of work in to every win that we have got. Nearly every win we have got has been late on the last day. We knew that if we took it deep we had a chance and that is what we have done."

Warwickshire's title success a victory for character and resilience

Regardless of what the schedule and format of the County Championship look like in 2022, there is good reason to believe that Mark Robinson's side will be there or thereabouts when the silverware is decided again given the core of young players this squad is built around. Ethan and Henry Brookes, Rob Yates, Matt Lamb, Sam Hain, Dom Sibley and Rhodes are all in their early to mid-20s and can only improve.

"We've got quite an inexperienced bunch that can grow," said Bresnan, who has another year to run on his deal at Warwickshire. "We turned hope into expectation and belief and after a few wins earlier in the season, the Notts win, and Essex wins we gained a load of belief after that and that turned into expectation.

"That is how winners operate and that is kind of what we have done. We knew if we took it deep we'd have that expectation that we could pull off something miraculous and we did it. 

^{Bresnan finishes the Championship season with 12 wickets and 16 catches}

"This is only the start. This is the start for this group of players. It's a young group. We've got a young captain who has led fantastically well and has made a lot of really good decisions.

"Sometimes you have to remind them that cricket is attritional at times and we're not going to have it our own way. Even when we took the wicket of (Lewis) Gregory, we had 28 overs left if it took 27 it took 27.

"We had to keep doing what we were doing, putting balls in the right areas and knowing full well it wouldn't take that long, but they needed to be reminded of that message.

"That breeds success and belief and a Championship winning team that could go on and win it again, and again and again."