“When I really started to love cricket was the 2005 Ashes, as a lot of people in my changing-room did, as a lot of people in the country did.” So his action is modelled on Andrew Flintoff.  “When I was young I wanted to bowl wide of the crease like Freddie Flintoff did. I wanted to do the switch-over in my hand at the top of my run-up like Freddie Flintoff did, and I still do because it’s so ingrained in me, and as I’ve got older it’s created a point of difference. On flatter pitches it does help me that I’m a bit wider in the crease and bowl from a slightly different angle and something a bit different for the batters to face.”

When he left Gloucestershire after the 2018 season to play at a Test ground with the greater exposure that brings, Warwickshire’s bowling coach Graeme Welch helped him to fall away less in the crease, to stand a bit taller. Norwell reckons “I’m probably bowling half a yard quicker at Warwickshire and I hit the pitch a bit harder. You need the balance but me being more of a muscle, force-it-down-there bowler, that’s my point of difference and that is what makes me me.

“It was my 12th professional season last year and I’d never had a sniff of anything like that before (the Lions call-up) or been involved in a program, so my thought-process was ‘come back a better cricketer and if I get picked for the Lions game that’s a great bonus.’ It fortunately went well. I actually felt I bowled better second innings though I didn’t get a wicket and was more threatening.

“I think myself, Saqib (Mahmood) and Matt Fisher bowled really well as a three-string attack (for the Lions). Bowling at Edgbaston has really helped me make that step up to the next level. I like taking the new ball but, in that Lions game, Saqib and Matt swing it more and were better options, so sometimes you have to put your ego aside and do whatever’s good for the team. I’ve got the skills to bowl with a new ball, but can still hit the pitch (with an old one) and get some rewards like I did in Australia. It gives you reassurance that I’m not a one-string bowler.”

It may not be far hence indeed before the England Test bowling attack consists of Saqib, Fisher and, as both a new-ball bowler and a heavy-duty third seamer, Norwell.

The next six cabs off England’s fast bowling rank 

By Scyld Berry 

1. Mark Wood

Finally taking wickets in the quantity that his express pace deserves, because his follow-up ball – after the searing bouncer – has become cannier. The only England player to emerge from last winter’s Ashes with reputation enhanced, he took 17 wickets in four Tests, having averaged fewer than three per game. No less importantly his indomitable spirit was an example to all, until he was injured during the first Test in the West Indies. 26 Tests, 82 wickets at 31.9.

2. Ollie Robinson

Had he been fitter he might have been the leader of England’s attack by now. Equipped, not with pace, but with skill and the highest release-point in world cricket apart from Jason Holder and Kyle Jamieson, Robinson – when fit – maximises new-ball movement in long and usually penetrative opening spells. He pitches the new ball up, instead of concentrating on economy like Anderson and Broad. Nine Tests, 39 wickets at 21.2.

3. Saqib Mahmood

Responded spiritedly to the challenge of his first two Tests, not least when he blocked and whacked 49 at No 11. It would be ideal if he could find, with growing confidence, another few mph in pace. He would then be a multi-purpose bowler, swinging the new ball or resorting to reverse-swing, when he lowers his arm and threatens the stumps with yorkers. Two Tests, six wickets at 22.8.