County cricket: Yorkshire down as Warwickshire survive in thriller

Scenes! Absolute scenes at Edgbaston, as Liam Norwell, in the 11th over of a heroic spell, traps Mohammad Abbas in front of all three and sparks delirium in Warwickshire and despair in Yorkshire. County Championship you say? Who needs it?

It was a match the home side knew they needed to win. They also knew that they needed help from elsewhere and also that, with a re-organisation on the cards for 2024, a place in Division One next year was even more valuable than it would be in a normal season (if such a thing exists). No pressure in soft county cricket? For the birds.

With weather taking time out of the game, Will Rhodes (who knows how to win cricket matches – the pennant was still in his possession after all) took a bold decision late on day two and declared at 272 for four. He knew it was win or bust, so he needed his bowlers to have a break between Hampshire’s innings and he also wanted to get on with the job of taking 20 wickets. He refused the chance to add another 128 or so before lunch on day three – good on him!

Despite Norwell’s four wickets, Warwickshire batted a second time 39 runs behind, and lost first-innings centurion Rob Yates and nightwatchman Henry Brookes before they were out of the red. Only Dom Sibley, in his last match for the county, made much of a fist of it with 77, but that spared Rhodes another tricky declaration.

Everyone knew that if Warwickshire were to defend a target of 139, the experienced pair of Ollie Hannon-Dalby and Norwell would have to do it. They delivered 37 of the second innings’ 44 overs, Hannon-Dalby building pressure at one end while Norwell attacked the stumps at the other. Hampshire, motivated by the £145,000 difference in prize money between second and third places as well