The Cricketer have put this outside the paywall:
Liam Norwell makes amends: "I wanted to make sure I was the man to get us over the line"
GEORGE DOBELL AT EDGBASTON: Norwell hasn't been fit enough to bowl for most of the season, something he's felt incredibly guilty about. Staring relegation in the face, he produced a career-best performance. But the stats only tell part of the story
Don't you dare say nobody cares about county cricket. Don't you dare.
Deep into the final session of the final match of the season, with the trees having yellowed and the boys from the NYPD choir warming up their vocal chords, Liam Norwell is charging in from the Pavilion End at Edgbaston.
Norwell has been bowling since, give or take, the dawn of time. He's receiving treatment and advice from the physio at the end of every over. He's already tried to take himself off but his captain had told him in no uncertain terms that he's going to bowl until this is settled.
So a man who hasn't been fit enough to bowl at all for most of the season is suddenly obliged to take his spell into an 11th over. In an innings of 44 overs, he has bowled all but three from the Pavilion End. He looks exhausted.
But he's a job to do and a debt to pay. He's felt increasing guilt as the team he helped to the Championship title last year have slipped every further into relegation trouble. For reasons that are nobody's fault, he has been unable to play for most of the campaign but, with relegation measuring them up for a place in Division Two, he has sensed a chance to make amends.
And so he runs in again. And again. And with the new ball, he demands a stroke before gaining sharp away movement. Later, with the older one, he gains just enough swing to keep the batters honest while the life in the pitch augments the probing length he bowls. He's not as quick as Mark Wood or Jofra Archer, certainly, but he probably wouldn't compare too badly with Matt Potts.
So Ian Holland, fearing that one that nips away, leaves one straight one and Joe Weatherley plays across another. James Vince top-edges a pull and Ben Brown looks as if he's beaten for pace. Aneurin Donald, keen to finish this before it finishes him, is brilliantly caught driving in the covers and Keith Barker is bowled by one that straightens just a fraction to take his off stump.
But there are so few runs to play with. And so little support. While Oliver Hannon-Dalby is exceptional at the other end – the unsung hero as so often – Henry Brookes has leaked runs and Danny Briggs isn't at his best to left-handers. So Norwell's attempts to come off are met with a robust response from Will Rhodes.
A stand of 33 for the eighth wicket appears to have settled things. Hampshire only need 15 now and James Fuller is hitting the ball sweetly with Nick Gubbins apparently the calmest man in Birmingham. In Leeds, they're beginning to breathe a little easier.
But Norwell isn't finished yet. Gubbins is punished for trying to hit a good length ball through mid-on and Fuller is bowled off the inside edge by one that jags into him viciously. Now, at ten to five with the sun setting on the season for the final time, Warwickshire are suddenly favourites for the game. Mohammad Abbas is trapped in front by an inswinger and Warwickshire have won by five runs.
This must have been a bit what it was like to watch England beat Australia here in 1981. For those who don't recall, Ian Botham produced a spell of 5 for 1 as Australia's chase of 151 fell 29 short. It was magical stuff.
Norwell's final innings analysis of 9 for 62 represent not only career-best figures – his match figures of 13 for 100 were a new high, too – but Warwickshire's second-best Championship bowling figures since 1955. Only Chris Woakes, who claimed 9 for 36 against Durham in 2016, has better. It will feel even more special as it ensured Warwickshire retained their Division One status.
But statistics tell you only part of the story here. It has been a frustrating season for Norwell. A worrying one, too. He came into it within an ace of the England side – he was first reserve during that Caribbean tour – but has been limited to four Championship games by a combination on unfortunate events.
Most pertinently, he celebrated the arrival of his first child during that Caribbean tour only for the boy to almost immediately contract meningitis. In the desperate days that followed, thoughts of cricket went out of the window - he admits he didn't answer his phone for the best part of a month and would have no idea if a member of the England management had called – and when his season did finally start, he suffered a back spasm (from sleeping in a hospital chair for several nights), a concussion and then an elbow injury.
A few weeks ago, the club announced he wouldn't be able to play again this season. But then Mohammed Siraj and Jayant Yadav were forced home and Warwickshire had nowhere else to turn. He played this game wearing more strapping than Tutankhamun.
But the aches and pains will have a sweetness to them now. And he has a fair bit of time to recover. For the second season in a row, Warwickshire's players and supporters have gone home singing his praises. In black and white his words may appear a little arrogant; in person they were full of humility and guilt. His honesty about his England chances is telling.
"I am as frustrated as anyone about how the season has gone," he said afterwards. "Without wanting to sound arrogant, if I'd played more, I don't think we would have been in this situation. I feel I have let the lads down.
"I was struggling, to be honest. But you have to do what the team needs. I felt quite emotional. I wanted to make sure I was the man to get us over the line.
"England? I had the call saying I was first reserve. But we had a new-born a couple of weeks later and he was quite ill with meningitis. He nearly died. So they might not have got hold of me anyway.
"Anyway, now I'm 30 and there's younger lads like Potts. I don't think I've a chance."
