Tony Frost, who began the season as an assistant groundsman, and Rikki Clarke, who started the summer as Derbyshire captain, played the most significant innings as Warwickshire, looking to celebrate winning the second division title with their first championship victory at Edgbaston since April last year, set Glamorgan a little matter of 403 to win.

Frost, 32, the wicketkeeper-batsman who retired at the end of the 2006 season to pursue his new career, was scarifying the pitch when Ashley Giles, Warwickshire's director of coaching, persuaded him to play again because Tim Ambrose was going to be away with England.

The outcome has been remarkable. Frost, whose highest aggregate in ten seasons of county cricket was 568 in 2004, scored 62 yesterday to finish the season with 1,003 runs at a spectacular average of 83.58 and now has to decide whether his immediate future lies in scoring runs as a specialist batsman or cutting the grass.

Despite his typically dogged effort, Warwickshire were still struggling at 105 for six - only 227 runs ahead - when Clarke made his first impact at Edgbaston. The former England all-rounder, who was once seen as the natural understudy to Andrew Flintoff, had passed fifty only once this season - scoring 81 for Derbyshire against Warwickshire - before he changed counties.

Now he gave another tantalising glimpse of his talent, making 81 off 163 balls with 10 fours and sharing a seventh wicket partnership of 112 with Neil Carter to spare the second division champions' blushes.

Clarke eventually fell to Adam Shantry, the left arm swing bowler, who left Warwickshire wondering why they let him leave for Glamorgan at the end of last season by going on to complete his second five-wicket haul and return career-best match figures of 10 for 129.

For all Shantry's efforts, it was Jason Gillespie, the former Australia fast bowler, who was given a guard of honour as Glamorgan left the field after bowling in his last first-class match.

David Hemp, the Glamorgan captain, may have been batting in his last first-class match as well because he will be out of contract at the end of a modest season and he did his best to go out in a blaze of glory against his former county. He had made 44 off 59 balls with seven fours when he got a good ball from Boyd Rankin and was caught behind.

Scoreboard

Warwickshire: First Innings 315 (T R Ambrose 86, N M Carter 63, J O Troughton 54; A J Shantry 5 for 77)

Second Innings (overnight 55-3)
T Frost lbw b Shantry 62
J O Troughton c Wallace b Shantry 16
T R Ambrose c Wallace b Shantry 1
R Clarke c Wallace b Harrison 81
N M Carter c Rees b Watkins 51
I D K Salisbury c Rees b Shantry 39
C R Woakes c Dalrymple b Harrison 2
W B Rankin not out 0
Extras (b 1, lb 2, w 2) 5
Total (90.3 overs) 280

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-37, 3-48, 4-101, 5-103, 6-105, 7-217, 8-265, 9-279.

Bowling: Gillespie 17-3-57-1; Shantry 21.3-7-52-5; Harrison 23-3-74-3; Watkins 10-0-39-1; Croft 19-1-55-0.

Glamorgan: First Innings 193 (J W M Dalrymple 92; C R Woakes 6 for 68)

Second Innings
G P Rees not out 54
*D L Hemp c Ambrose b Rankin 44
T L Maynard not out 16
Extras (b 4, lb 1, w 1, nb 2) 8
Total (1 wkt, 25 overs) 122

Fall of wicket: 1-73.

Bowling: Woakes 9-2-33-0; Carter 8-0-33-0; Rankin 4-0-28-1; Trott 2-0-13-0; Maddy 2-0-10-0.

Umpires: N G B Cook and J W Lloyds.

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