Jonathan Trott has challenged championship pace-setters Warwickshire to push hard for success in not just four-day cricket but all formats of the game this season.

Trott returned to county duty for the Bears against Sussex at Hove last week and reacquainted himself in fine style with a superb 178 to lay the foundation for his team’s domination of the match.

Warwickshire had to settle for a draw after rain frustrated their victory bid. But, having started with wins over Somerset and Lancashire, they have still made an excellent start to the campaign.

And Trott who, like England team-mate Ian Bell will also play in the match against Durham at Edgbaston starting today, reckons the squad under captain Jim Troughton has the ability and, just as importantly, the mentality to sustain their challenge.

“We have got a lot of good players and players who really play for each other which is vitally important in four-day cricket where you spend so much time together over the course of a season,” he said.

“It would be nice to put in a real challenge in the championship and I think we can do that. But we don’t want to put all our eggs in one basket. One-day cricket is important as well because there is a lot of financial reward there and if we could get in the Champions League that would be very exciting and put us in the shop window for higher honours.

“It has been good to get back among the guys again. I always enjoy coming back and playing for Warwickshire. It was playing with these guys and under Ashley Giles as coach that was the start of something for me in terms of my career and it’s great to come back and catch up with the lads and hopefully make some runs.”