The axe finally came down on County Champions Yorkshire at Edgbaston when defeat by six wickets against Warwickshire meant certain relegation whatever may happen in their final match of the season this week.

At least Yorkshire fought tooth and nail until the bitter end and at one stage it looked as if they might just pull off one of the most remarkable victories in their history.

Having followed on 250 runs behind Warwickshire's 601-9 declared they batted with such spirit that they reached 481 in their second innings and were able to set their opponents a 232 target off what turned out to be 51 overs.

But they never achieved the early breakthrough they needed and captain Mike Powell and Mark Wagh calmly put on 175 for the first wicket in 38 overs to put the issue beyond any real doubt.

In a match in which new records were constantly being set, the last one to be posted was the highest run aggregate in any Yorkshire game, the 1,665 beating the previous best of 1,473 against Worcestershire at Scarborough in 1995.

Yorkshire coach Wayne Clark said: "It was sad to be relegated after staging such a great comeback in this match.

"But the damage was really done in the first half of the season when we lost too many matches and we have only ourselves to blame.

"Winning the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy gave us something to remember the season by but relegation is still a big disappointment and now we will have to work hard on coming straight back up."

Despite the double disappointment of defeat and relegation, it was an outstanding match for Yorkshire's defiant skipper Richard Blakey who added to his first innings 70 with a superb 103, his first century of the season.

Although Yorkshire had battled away battled away bravely on Saturday to reach 304-5 by the close, the game could still have been over in the first session of the final day if there had been a sudden collapse.

It never came about, however, because Blakey and Gary Fellows coolly stayed together throughout the morning and when Fellows eventually fell lbw to Alan Richardson for 88 the pair had put on 175 in 50 overs to set a new sixth-wicket record against Warwickshire, beating the 169 by Hedley Verity and Wilf Barber in 1933. Fellows faced 153 balls and struck ten boundaries.

Blakey, who had survived a couple of chances on the third day and another on 86 when Richardson failed to hold a return drive, soon lost Richard Dawson and Ryan Sidebottom but he still had enough support left to go to his century with a meaty pull through mid-wicket.

He tried a similar shot off the next ball from Richardson which went straight to Mo Sheikh at long leg, Blakey having hammered 14 boundaries off the 187 balls he received.

Blakey has rattled up 945 Championship runs this season batting at number seven and he now only has the Kent match at Headingley, starting on Wednesday, in which to become the second Yorkshire batsman behind Darren Lehmann to make it to the 1,000 mark.

Hopes that Warwickshire would get into early trouble quickly evaporated as Powell and Wagh took control.

Updated: 11:46 Monday, September 16, 2002