Norwell leads the way at Chelmsford
3 May 2015
Inspired by Liam Norwell, Gloucestershire took command of their County Championship Division Two clash against second in the table Essex at Chelmsford.
He produced a devastating spell of seam bowling to capture four wickets in 17 balls at a cost of two runs, as the home side were bowled out for 159 and then watched his side reach the close on 77 without loss in reply.
Yet is seemed Essex were on their way to a decent total after they had been put into bat as openers Nick Browne and Jaik Mickleburgh composed a half-century stand following a morning session washed out by rain.
Mickleburgh produced several well-timed drives before the more circumspect Browne gloved a leg-side delivery from Craig Miles and was caught behind for 19 to end a stand worth 61 runs.
Then Norwell made his dramatic impact to fully vindicate the decision of Gloucestershire captain Geraint Jones to insert his opponents.
Underlining the value of line and length and getting the ball to lift awkwardly and swing, Norwell had soon reduced Essex to 82 for 5.
He began by bowling Mickleburgh off his pads for 42, the top-score of the innings. He followed that with two wickets in an over removing Dan Lawrence, a 17 year-old who scored a century against Surrey last week for 6 and James Foster for a single.
Both fell to smart catches by Chris Dent at second slip and soon afterwards, Norwell got rid of Jesse Ryder as the New Zealander chased a delivery wide of off-stump.
David Payne also picked up two wickets in an over, those of Kishen Velani and Graham Napier, as the innings fell apart.
In the end, it was only a belligerent wag of the tail that enabled Essex to achieve some semblance of respectability with the last two wickets adding a welcome 53 runs
Adeel Malik, a leg-spinner preferred to the dropped Monty Panesar and on a three-month contract, marked his debut with 25 made from 23 deliveries. That included an on-side drive into the stand off Payne, before the fast bowler breached his defenses to gain revenge.
David Masters weighed in with 26 that included five fours before Matt Taylor trapped him leg before.
As the sun came out and the pitch eased, Will Tavare and Dent warmed to their task of making sure the efforts of Norwell and Payne, who finished with 4-32 and 3-64 respectively were not wasted.
Tavare reached the close on 32 with Dent just 8 runs short of a half-century to go with his three catches - his safe hands having also accounted for Velani.
Essex Head coach Paul Grayson said: “It was a good toss to win and we would have put Gloucestershire in if we had won it. We had a good first 40 minutes but then things went wrong.
“We need to get wickets early tomorrow if possible but there is still a lot of cricket left in this game and we’ve had many good sessions in the last few games we’ve played in this competition and now we’ll need the squad to show their character again. Today was just one bad day for us.”
England fast bowling scout Geoff Arnold gave his verdict on Norwell’s performance. "He maintained a good line and hit the deck hard to get deliveries to leave and cause the batsmen problems,” he said.
“He fully deserved the wickets on a pitch which gave him help. Having said that, some of the Essex batsmen did not cover themselves with glory with some of the shots they played.”
Liam Norwell is sponsored by Mr Michael Abbott
