Northamptonshire 151 for 5 beat Warwickshire 145 by five wickets
Scorecard
England batsmen Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell were unable to provide a suitable celebration of a major date in Warwickshire's history as they went down to Northamptonshire by five wickets in their final Clydesdale Bank 40 fixture at Edgbaston.
One hundred years to the day since clinching their first County Championship - with a win against Northants - they slumped to their fifth defeat in the last six matches in a limp defence of last year's title.
Trott was out second ball, leg-before for nought, in the opening over from Dave Burton and the 26-year-old London-born paceman also dismissed Bell for 26 as Warwickshire were bowled out for 145. Even this lightweight target was no gift for Northamptonshire on the pitch that was used for the Friends Life t20 finals day at the weekend, but their much-changed side got home with 52 balls to spare.
Alex Wakely (34) and David Willey (23) gave the visitors a strong start but loan signing Chris Wright split the openers before Rikki Clarke drove a hole in the top order.
His fourth ball took the inside edge of Wakely's bat for a catch behind the wicket and his second over began with an lbw decision against David Sales and a comfortable chance to point from Niall O'Brien.
At 65 for four, and with Rob Newton unable to bat after injuring an arm while fielding, Northamptonshire could easily have caved in but new signing Kyle Coetzer and captain Andrew Hall responded with a stand of 58.
Although Clarke completed a one-day best return of four for 28 by bowling Hall for 24, Coetzer finished the job with the highest score of the match, an unbeaten 54 from 64 balls, completed by the winning six off Neil Carter.
The entire Warwickshire innings contained only nine fours and one six, which was hit over mid-wicket by Ateeq Javid in making a top score of 34. Burton, a journeyman now with his third first-class county, made a spectacular start when Trott and Carter missed straight balls.
Bell initially looked a class apart but after picking off four boundaries, he also fell to Burton. His lofted drive looped high over mid-off where Sam Sweeney ran back and held the catch as the ball dropped over his shoulder.
Burton had three wickets for 12 runs from his first 26 balls and Northamptonshire were able to shackle the middle order as the spin pair, Tom Brett and Wakely, combined for three wickets and got through their 16 overs for 51 runs. Brett, a 21-year-old slow left-armer, had William Porterfield taken at extra cover for 30 and all-rounder Hall (two for 14) wrapped up the innings in the 39th over by bowling Javid.