What Warwickshire Means To Me: Aaron Viles

The books – which had been published as a way of creatively raising additional funds and awareness for the Cricketer’s Trust and the Yorkshire Past Players and Development Fund – featured various stories from a wide range of players, coaches, umpires, scorers and county cricket supporters, and were aptly titled ‘What Cricket Means To Me’ and ‘What Yorkshire Cricket Means To Me’ respectively.

In Gill’s case, the answers to those questions were pretty obvious; the Middlesbrough-native has been positively obsessed with the sport ever since she first picked up an errant ball on the edge of the boundary rope at Crathorne CC in North Yorkshire, but naturally - as a hugely passionate fan of both the game itself as well as my beloved Bears – those book titles also got me thinking:

What does Warwickshire cricket mean to me?

Admittedly, it’s a pretty significant question to try and answer in the written medium, and it's one that's taken quite a while to properly formulate, but as we approach the latter stages of the 2026 season - and with the club locked in a fierce dogfight for their ninth County Championship title - I thought that now would be as good a time as any to fire up the laptop and compose some thoughts on the best moments from my life as a 25-year-old Bears fan to date.

So, with the help of eight questions, one for each County Championship title won since the club's founding in 1882, this is what Warwickshire means to me:

What are your earliest memories of Warwickshire County Cricket Club?

My earliest memories of the Bears come from a 2009 Pro40 game against Glamorgan at Edgbaston. At my primary school in Claverdon, we had an after-school cricket club which I used to attend every week and towards the end of the term, I won the ‘most improved player award’ and got a Slazenger V100 bat and two tickets to watch Warwickshire play at Edgbaston. I’ve actually still got that bat as a bit of a keepsake funnily enough!

Fast forward to the day itself - which was a very wet one from memory - and I just remember walking through the gates for the first time and being absolutely captivated by the size of the stadium itself. Up until this point, I’d only ever played cricket on the school field or on asphalt, so to see this vast expanse of seats and a huge green playing surface was mind-blowing.

Unfortunately, my aunt and I didn’t actually get to see much cricket being played on that day because of the rain, but that feeling of awe and amazement never left, and here I am 17 years later still visiting Edgbaston religiously every summer. I just love the place.

Did you have any previous ties to the club through family or friends, or was it just a case of being intrigued by what county cricket had to offer?

This might be a bit of a surprise to some people, but I’m the anomaly in my family when it comes to watching county cricket.

On my mum’s side, my aunt - who I’ve already mentioned - and my granddad loved seeing England play Test cricket but that never translated into county cricket, purely because they didn’t have the time to fully get invested into it.

For me though, I just loved the fact that there was a club that represented both the town and the county where I was born, and we were fortunate to have some truly great players in the squad that made cricket such an enjoyable sport to watch.

Who can you remember watching during your first game at Edgbaston?

Well, the Bears didn’t actually bat during my first game at Edgbaston, so I mostly remember watching Herschelle Gibbs scoring some runs for Glamorgan before the rain arrived!

From a Warwickshire point of view though, I can’t really forget 6ft 7' Boyd Rankin charging in and bowling some proper heat, and Keith Barker causing a few issues with his left arm seam. I’m pretty sure that Neil Carter bowled in that game as well, so there were quite a few big names on show in the bowling department come to think of it.

Who are some of your all-time favourite Bears players?

That’s a really tough question... there's so many to choose from. I'll try and make it easier though by keeping it to players that I've actually seen live or else we'll be here all day listing Warwickshire legends!

I suppose if I had to choose just one from over the years, it’d probably be Ian Bell, he was my cricketing hero growing up really. He also had the most aesthetically-pleasing cover drive in the history of the game, and he’s always come across as being a really nice fella too, so that certainly helps his case.

In addition to Bell though, I absolutely loved watching Jonathan Trott, Jeetan Patel, Chris Woakes, Chris Wright, Keith Barker, Tim Ambrose, Laurie Evans and Rikki Clarke throughout the 2010’s, they were just an incredible group of players to watch from the stands.

We also had the likes of Jim Troughton, Ian Westwood and Varun Chopra marshalling the troops in the leadership department, and it was a recipe for some unbelievable success for the club during that era.

Then when it comes to the slightly more recent seasons, I really enjoyed watching Grant Elliott and Colin de Grandhomme bat in the Blast in 2017 and 2018, especially when they put on that match-winning partnership in the Quarter Final at The Oval!

And even now in the 2020’s, the two that immediately spring to mind are Sam Hain and Oliver Hannon-Dalby; they’ve just been so reliable and consistent for years and, I was so happy to be there at Trent Bridge when Sam finally got to make his long-overdue England debut against Ireland in 2023.

Finally, I have to give a mention to Gwen Davies, Marie Kelly and Anisha Patel for their performances in the 2019 Women’s T20 Cup triumph as well. Those three were absolutely class throughout that tournament and it was a huge achievement for the club to get that first title on the board, so I think it’s important to recognise their contributions too.

And who would you say is the most underrated Warwickshire player you’ve ever seen?

Again, that’s an incredibly difficult question to answer, but I think I’d have to go with Liam Norwell.

Whenever someone mentions Liam’s name, your first thought naturally goes to that heroic 9/62 against Hampshire in 2022, but even prior to that, it always felt as though he could impact a game with his extra pace and bounce, and I loved his competitive nature in the First-Class format.

He also shared a 50-run partnership with OHD against Notts in the first game back after the Covid-19 restrictions were eased in 2021, which I must admit was equal parts brilliant and equal parts hilarious as you could just see the Nottinghamshire fielders get visibly more and more frustrated with every boundary they scored. If I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure he brought up the milestone with a big six as well so that was definitely a fun one to watch from the stands.

Finally - and arguably most importantly - he also took the wicket of Jack Brooks which won us the County Championship later on in that same season, so I’ll always have nothing but the deepest admiration and respect for what he did during his time at Warwickshire. He was just terrific both on and off the field.

What’s been your favourite memory as a Warwickshire fan over the years?

Haha, these questions don’t get any easier, do they? It sounds pretty obvious, but I’ll always look back on that era from 2010-2018 with incredibly fond memories as they were my formative years as a Warwickshire fan and we won practically every trophy that was available to us. Not many other clubs can say that they've had periods of pure dominance like that, so that was ridiculously special to witness with the power of hindsight.

Then when it comes to individual performances, I was at Edgbaston for Ian Bell’s only T20 century in that extraordinary tie against Northants in 2018 – which is a strong contender for the best Blast game I’ve ever witnessed live – and even more recently, in 2025, I was on commentary for Taz Ali’s first 5-wicket haul in 1st XI cricket, so those two immediately come to mind as being special memories as well.

If I had to select just one though, it’d have to be that final day against Somerset in 2021. That’s one of the best days that I’ve ever had in my life up until this point.

As a quick bit of context, we needed Lancashire to beat Hampshire in Aigburth to have a chance of winning the title on Day Four, and when Dane Vilas nailed the match-winning sweep to take them to a 1-wicket win on Day Three, I celebrated like mad.

Obviously, we still had a lot to do at Edgbaston, but I just had a feeling that something quite special could happen as long as we got a decent total on the board and as fate would have it, that’s exactly what Rob Yates, Will Rhodes and Matt Lamb provided us with. They couldn’t really have batted much better in that morning session in all honesty.

Then with the ball, every single one of the bowlers did their job to a tee, especially Chris Woakes and Craig Miles. Woakes in particular was just relentless with his line and length after Lunch, and when he flattened Craig Overton and Jack Leach’s stumps within the space of a few overs… that was pure cricketing perfection.

Speaking of which, that indescribable moment of ecstasy when time stood still and Norwell got Brooks to seal the title was amazing too. I remember celebrating wildly in the Raglan with a few of the members, all of us absolutely beaming, and then making my way over to the South Stand to watch the post-match trophy presentation with my Warwickshire flag draped over my shoulders.

There was a really nice moment at the end as well where Sam Hain brought the trophy over to make sure that everyone could get a picture with it so, yeah, that’s got to be my number one memory at this stage.

I just hope that we can experience some more days like that as a fanbase in the coming years, nothing comes close to the feeling of pure joy and euphoria you experience in moments like that.

How long have you been a member at Warwickshire for?

I've been a member at Warwickshire every year since 2019. In hindsight, I probably should have become one sooner as it would have worked out cheaper than buying a bunch of individual tickets, but you live and you learn I guess!

And finally Aaron, what does Warwickshire County Cricket Club mean to you?

You know, I’ve thought long and hard about that question over the years and without sounding too cliché, Warwickshire means absolutely everything to me.

Having been born in Warwick itself, I’ll always feel a really strong connection to the Bears because they’re the only fully professional sporting club that represents the town and the county that I’m actually from, and it’s a part of the country that I’m incredibly proud to call home as well.

I also think back to 2019, which was by far and away the most difficult year of my life so far, and the one distraction that I had from those more challenging times was found in Row M of the Stanley Barnes stand, watching Warwickshire play some county cricket while the rest of the world passed by.

During those darker days, Edgbaston acted as the lighthouse of familiarity to me, providing a continuous glimmer of hope and happiness amidst a choppy sea of grief and uncertainty, and I’ll always be extremely grateful for that in hindsight.

Thankfully, those more difficult days have been consigned to the past now, and in recent seasons I've made the move from the Stanley Barnes stand to the commentary box as part of the crew at Bears TV, a role which I only ever could have dreamed of as a bright-eyed youngster tuning in to the local BBC radio commentary during the early 2010's.

Admittedly, it hasn’t always been an easy ride supporting the Bears - with relegations and quarter final heartbreaks immediately springing to mind - but this club has been a place that I’ve called home ever since I was eight years old, and will continue to be a place that I call home for the rest of my life.

It's just part and parcel of who I am.

So to answer the original question, I suppose it's that strong and enduring sense of identity, familiarity and belonging that makes Warwickshire County Cricket Club so incredibly special to me.

And do you know what? I wouldn't replace it for the world.

If you'd like to get involved with our ‘What Warwickshire Means To Me’ series and feature on the site, please get in touch with us on our Instagram account ‘@thebearwccc’ or email us via aaron@the-bear.news or brian@the-bear.news for more information. We’d absolutely love to hear from you.