Warwickshire built their innings patiently on a shortened opening day against Derbyshire at Edgbaston.

Darren Maddy (73) made his highest Championship score since his century against Northants in April and Jonathan Trott grafted for an unbeaten 62.

The home side reached 209-3 at stumps from the 73.3 overs available.

Warwickshire are trying to close a 29-point gap with table-toppers Worcestershire before their head-to-head at New Road next week.

And with the current match constituting the Bears' game in hand over their Midlands rivals, the Division Two title is not a foregone conclusion.

Derbyshire are still hoping to force their way into the promotion picture but a dead surface took the sting out of their limited attack.

The best their bowlers could do was wait for a mistake by the batsmen and Ian Westwood obliged in Graham Wagg's third over of the morning when a loose drive resulted in a smart catch by Rikki Clarke at second slip.

But a sequence of time-consuming partnerships kept Warwickshire on course for a big total.

With Tim Ambrose back from England duty, Tony Frost gave up the wicketkeeping role but stayed in the side, batting at number three, and partly justified the move by making 25 out of 71 in 21 overs with Maddy.

Frost's misplaced pull off medium-pacer Wavell Hinds went straight to Paul Borrington at mid-wicket to make the score 82-2.

But Maddy overcame a sketchy start expanded to reach 50 in the four-day format for the first time since breaking a thumb in May.

Then, having hit 10 fours in three hours, he was also lured into error, cutting a short ball from Jonathan Clare to point where Wagg held a good low catch.

The in-form Trott, who made 92 in a NatWest Pro40 defeat by Surrey on Monday, helped Maddy put on 56 and then moved on to his own half-century in another stubborn partnership with Jim Troughton (22 not out).