Batting milestones have repeatedly been passed since the three-day format was replaced, but it is always sad to find two great comrades no longer conjoined in the records. Anthony McGrath, with a maiden double century, and Joe Sayers, with an epic 173 from 441 balls, erased the unbeaten 323 put on by Herbert Sutcliffe and Maurice Leyland at Fartown, Huddersfield, in 1928.

A right and left-hand combination like their illustrious forebears, McGrath and Sayers not only set Yorkshire’s best stand for the third wicket but beat the highest such partnership at Edgbaston. Sutcliffe was the same age as McGrath (33) when he shared his stand with Leyland, a fellow product of Harrogate, but it is a fair bet that McGrath will not go on to open for England when five months short of his 41st birthday.

Nor will he and Sayers equal the 95 Test caps and 1,150 matches for the county amassed by the legendary Yorkshiremen. Leyland still features in two of Yorkshire’s record stands, and Sutcliffe’s opening 555 with Percy Holmes in 1932 remains the highest for any wicket in England. Nobody will overhaul Sutcliffe’s aggregate of runs and hundreds for the county.

Questioned about bouncers, Leyland once famously confided:

“Nobody likes ’em, but some of us don’t let on.” It is to the credit of Sayers, a man perceived as vulnerable to short balls, that he withstood many in his 9½ hours at the crease. Contributing 134 to his captain’s 185 in an eventual 346-run stand, he edged to slip, driving at Jeetan Patel’s off spin, more than a day after their alliance began.

For his part, McGrath took 142 balls over a laboured first fifty but needed only 51, 49 and 68 further balls for each of his next three. Discounting rain, Warwickshire became the first team in 243 games to have all bowling points elude them before Neil Carter suddenly claimed three scalps in eight balls, McGrath chopping on as he made room to cut.

Fifth out, he could still declare 50 minutes later and leave a follow-on target of 451.

That Sutcliffe-Leyland stand only proved the preface, interestingly, to two days of rain and the bathos of a draw. The pitch will be Yorkshire’s concern this time — there have been three positive results in Edgbaston’s previous 18 championship games.