Warwickshire survive in County Championship and relegate Yorkshire as Liam Norwell takes nine wickets

Last Updated: 29/09/22 5:27pm

Warwickshire survived in the County Championship as Liam Norwell’s heroic bowling effort of 9-62 helped them beat Hampshire by five runs and relegate Yorkshire instead

Liam Norwell took nine wickets as Warwickshire pulled off a stunning final-day, five-run victory over Hampshire to remain in LV= Insurance County Championship Division One and relegate Yorkshire instead.

The Bears needed to beat Hampshire at Edgbaston to avoid becoming the first side since Middlesex in 2017 to drop out of the top flight a year after winning it.

Warwickshire had Norwell to thank for their survival, with the seamer snaring a remarkable career-best 9-62 from 18.5 overs as Hampshire were rolled for 133 in a chase of just 139 for victory.

As a result, Yorkshire have slipped into the second tier alongside bottom side Gloucestershire, the team they lost to at Headingley on Wednesday.

Norwell took nine wickets in 18.5 overs as Warwickshire pulled off a stunning victory to remain in the top flight

Norwell was brilliant for the Bears, accounting for, among others, Hampshire skipper James Vince for 15, former Warwickshire player Keith Barker for four and top-scorer Nick Gubbins for 46.

The former Gloucestershire paceman then bowled James Fuller (22) before pinning last man Mohammad Abbas (0) lbw in what proved the final over of the match to clinch a remarkable victory for his team.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby (1-40) picked off Hampshire opener Felix Organ (5) to leave the visitors 6-1 before Norwell took over, starting when he bowled Ian Holland (3).

Gubbins held firm at one end as Norwell collected wickets at the other, with Barker’s dismissal half an hour into the final session – bowled off stump by a peach of a delivery – seeing Hampshire reduced to 91-7, still 48 runs shy of victory.

Gubbins and Fuller appeared to have put Hampshire back on course for the win with an eighth-wicket stand of 33, but the former was trapped lbw with 15 runs required before the latter was castled with the visitors needing a further six.

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The game was over four balls later as Norwell pinned Abbas leg before to cap a staggering bowling display and keep his side in the Championship’s top tier.

The odds were heavily stacked against Warwickshire heading into day four, with the hosts 62-2 in their second innings and leading by just 23 runs.

Dom Sibley – in his last game for the Bears before he returns to Surrey – turned his overnight 29 into 77 but received little support as Warwickshire were dismissed for 177, an innings in which Hampshire seamer Fuller bagged 4-34.

Hampshire would have fancied clinching a 10th victory in 14 matches but ran into an inspired Norwell as they missed out on the chance to finish second in the table – and an additional £145,000 in prize money.