JACK Brooks believes Yorkshire have been given an early reminder that retaining their Specsavers County Championship title will be no easy task this summer.

The champions have drawn their opening two Division One fixtures against Hampshire and Warwickshire, a match which finished at Edgbaston yesterday as the hosts enjoyed the better of a forgettable contest which saw 117.2 overs lost to weather.

Yorkshire have been far from their best in both matches.

They have played some excellent cricket, but some indifferent stuff as well.

Yesterday was a prime example.

They bowled well before lunch in taking four wickets as Warwickshire advanced their first-innings reply to 379 from 205-2 overnight to 312-6.

Adam Lyth struck twice with his off-spinners, while Steve Patterson and Adil Rashid picked up one apiece.

Unfortunately, after lunch, things slipped for the seamers with the new ball as they missed out on a third bowling bonus point.

Warwickshire scored 77 in the first eleven overs of the session on the way to 443-9 declared.

Rikki Clarke and Tim Ambrose both scored half-centuries.

Yorkshire were 73-2 in their second innings when the players shook hands at 4.50pm. They collected eleven points to Warwickshire’s 13.

There have been extenuating circumstances for the White Rose, who pointed to Rashid’s 4-127 from 31 overs as an encouraging sign.

This week’s baltic conditions made bowling and fielding a nightmare, especially without injured Ryan Sidebottom, who went down with an ankle injury on day three and will have a scan today.

But Brooks insisted: “We’ve just got to suck it up and be better.

“This game we’ve been 30 percent down at stages, but last game against Hampshire we were only 10 percent off.

“We still didn’t build enough pressure in terms of putting enough balls in the right areas and just maybe thinking it could happen or leaving it to someone else rather than putting that process in that we’ve talked about over the last couple of years.

“When things go so well over a couple of years, things can tail off. But we’ve got to make sure we’re not complacent and keep raising the bar.

“We haven’t been anywhere near our best, and we’re going to have to start firing soon.

“I think we’re 20 or 30 percent off where we can be in all areas.

“Last week we bowled ok. We were just slightly off and Hampshire played well.

"Obviously Jonny Bairstow batted beautifully and a couple of other guys filled their boots. I don’t think we’ve been consistent as a team yet.

“It didn’t help with Ryan going down (against Warwickshire), where we had only three seamers and Rash.

“We know we’re a good outfit, but we’ve just got to be better as a team, be a bit more focused and realise that the challenge is there for us. It’s real now.

“Instead of talking about it through the winter, it’s actually happening now.

“If we came away and blazed two wins, it might not be the best thing in the world, whereas now we’ve had a kick up the backside after two games.”

Captain Andrew Gale has already ruled Sidebottom out of Sunday’s clash with Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, and he expects him to miss the next two matches.