The final day of the County Championship season left nails chewed to the core and hearts racing as a remarkable nine-wicket performance from Liam Norwell saw Warwickshire pull off the great escape and send Yorkshire crashing into the Second Division
Defending just 139 runs against Hampshire under bleak skies at Edgbaston, second-bottom Warwickshire came close to becoming the fifth team in the promotion-relegation era to go on to win the Championship of the County with the leave. As their head coach, Mark Robinson, later said: “We needed snookers.”
Norwell had other ideas, his career-best figures of nine for a lung-busting 62 off 19 sealing a stunning five-run win which meant the trap was dodged by three points. As well as those in attendance, the outcome was watched by a further 16,000 viewers online and, in taking his side up to eighth in the table, the fast bowler broke the hearts of those at Headingley.
“I went crazy — all the emotions came out,” said Norwell, visibly broken by his efforts, when asked to describe the winning moment. He arrived by trapping No.11 Mohammad Abbas lbw for a four-ball duck, with Hampshire bowled out for 133 in 43.5 overs and forced to settle for third place behind Lancashire and champions Surrey.
Liam Norwell in the dressing room after the game. Photograph: Warwickshire CCC
It was just Norwell’s fourth game of an injury-plagued season and one that, after a recent elbow problem, gave him a “10% chance” of playing just to play through the pain. The 30-year-old was also on England’s reserve list for their Caribbean Test tour in March, only to spend a month in hospital when his newborn son contracted meningitis and cricket went turn much into secondary.
All went well on that front and now his maddening summer, one that left him feeling he had let his team-mates down during those absences, has ended with hero status after coming through Hampshire’s impressive line-up , with stumps flying in all directions. When Brummies talk about “Norwell’s party” in years to come, they won’t need to be reminded which one. This was electric.
It was former Yorkshireman Oliver Hannon-Dalby who led the charge after Dom Sibley, in his last outing for Warwickshire before moving to Surrey, made 77 during a second-innings tram run. Removing Felix Organ caught behind in the third over of 72 remaining, Hannon-Dalby took his wickets to 53 for the season, a fine return for an ever-present seamer who has given his all in a faltering campaign.
Liam Norwell and his Warwickshire teammates celebrate their ninth wicket as they bowl out Hampshire for 133. Picture: WarwickshireCCC/YouTube
But then, with first-change Henry Brookes struggling, it was mainly Norwell, his Herculean effort from the Pavilion End seeing a simple three break in the middle. “I tried to get out after Keith Barker’s wicket,” he said. “I was cramping but Will Rhodes, our captain, said – and I won’t use the language – you’re bowling until the end of the game. He and Dom Sibley kept encouraging me.”
Barker, a title winner with Warwickshire in 2012, was the seventh wicket to fall, with 48 runs still needed. But the key knock came from Nick Gubbins, whose 46 had taken Hampshire to within 15 of the target only to fall lbw on the first delivery after a change of ball. It looked like a dubious decision but the Bears cared little, then Norwell bowled over James Fuller before Abbas’ clearance sent Yorkshire into the abyss.
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The precise nature of the Yorkshire descent, and that of the lower part of Gloucestershire, remains to be confirmed. First, it is not yet known whether this is a double whammy; after all, if Andrew Strauss’s plan for 2024 was agreed, entry into the reduced top division of six would logically take at least two seasons to achieve.
No promotion would turn the Second Division into a zombified second tier for a summer, but nothing is decided. Under pressure from the England and Wales Cricket Board, the future national structure must be agreed soon by the 18 first-class counties, but with a theoretical deadline of the end of November when they are due to be published next year’s matches.
Be that as it may, there is also the unresolved question of whether embattled Yorkshire will start next season with a points deduction. The White Rose have yet to face the Cricket Disciplinary Commission and the charge of bringing the game into disrepute over their handling of Azeem Rafiq’s racism allegations.
There have been indications that the current regime will accept this position (which the previous ones at Headingley do not). A decision is still weeks away, but a point deduction was handed out on the final day when the CDC announced that Durham had been docked 10 for Nic Maddinson’s use of an oversized bat against Derbyshire. It did not affect their sixth place in the Second Division.
It is known for certain, at least, that Nottinghamshire and Middlesex are the teams going in the other direction. Notts go up as champions after thrashing Durham by 462 runs at Trent Bridge, with Middlesex securing second place ahead of Glamorgan with a draw as their final day in Worcestershire was scrapped.