WARWICKSHIRE have escaped a points penalty after an ECB pitches panel decided to mark the wicket "below average" for their Frizzell County Championship match with Worcestershire at Edgbaston.

The Bears went top of Division One after their nine-wicket success but had to agonise for three hours while ECB pitch officers David Hughes and Peter Walker considered all the facts.

The surface had showed signs of variable bounce from the first over on Tuesday morning with several deliveries either rearing over the head of the batsmen or shooting along the ground.

The panel had the option of marking the wicket "poor" or "unfit" which would have meant eight or 22 points deductions respectively.

It was decided that the next level in the six-point tier for pitch marking, "below average" -- should suffice and so Warwickshire retain all 22 points from the game.

Former Lancashire skipper Hughes had been at the ground for the final one-and-a-half days of the game and took the decision to bring in the panel during yesterday morning.

The trio interviewed umpires Roy Palmer and John Hampshire, Worcestershire skipper Ben Smith and director of cricket Tom Moody, Warwickshire captain Nick Knight and Bears' coach John Inverarity plus head groundsman Steve Rouse.

Moody was scathing about the state of the wicket and deemed it unfit for first class cricket and not ideal for preparing players for the Test arena.

The former Australian star said: "I thought it was a poor surface and one you shouldn't play first class cricket on. First class cricket should be the nursery for Test cricket. All you are going to get out of a wicket like that is a broken thumb or a broken toe.

"It doesn't encourage the type of cricket you expect to be played at the top level. It was not acceptable."

But Warwickshire chief executive Dennis Amiss countered: "When you get 1,200 runs scored at four-and-a-half an over, I find Moody's comments hard to believe.

"Yes, it was not an ideal wicket. It was drier than we would have liked. It did more with the new ball than the older ball.

"We will also almost certainly be digging up the four wickets on that side of the ground in the winter.

"But I am happy with the verdict and there was some superb batting from our players, not slogging as I've heard mentioned in some areas. We set our mind out to do what had to be done and we played some good cricket."