India, March 28 -- County Championship teams across England and Wales are preparing for the start of the new season on April 4, with a series of warm-up games being played across the country. A remarkable day's play unfolded at Edgbaston in Birmingham, home of Warwickshire, where the home team piled on 504 for the loss of no wicket against Northamptonshire, as eight different batters featured without losing a wicket.

Put in to bat first, Northamptonshire - coached by former Australian coach Darren Lehmann - showed that this was a good batting surface. They piled on 423-7 on the first day's play, Saif Zaib top-scoring with 102.

However, this paled in comparison to what the hosts achieved when it was their turn to bat. The Bears saw openi...