Norman Cowans

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Norman Cowans
Personal information
Full name
Norman George Cowans
Born (1961-04-17) 17 April 1961 (age 62)
St. Mary, Jamaica
NicknameFlash
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast
RoleBowler
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
1980–1993Middlesex
1993–1995Hampshire
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 19 23 239 224
Runs scored 175 13 1,605 281
Batting average 7.95 2.60 8.91 5.62
100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/1 0/0
Top score 36 4* 66 27
Balls bowled 3,452 1,282 33,023 11128
Wickets 51 23 662 263
Bowling average 39.27 39.69 24.86 27.33
5 wickets in innings 2 0 23 1
10 wickets in match 0 0 1 0
Best bowling 6/77 3/44 6/31 6/9
Catches/stumpings 9/– 5/– 63/– 40/-
Source: CricInfo, 26 November 2017

Norman George Cowans (born 17 April 1961) is a former cricketer who mainly played as a right-arm fast bowler. He was the 500th cricketer to play Test cricket for England, featuring between 1982 and 1985 in 19 Test matches and 23 One Day Internationals.[1] Cowans also played first-class and List A cricket for both Middlesex and Hampshire.[2]

He won four

CricInfo described him as "an integral member of the most successful Middlesex team of all time." Cowans picked up a sum of 532 first-class and 212 List A wickets in a combined 362 appearances for the said side.[3][4]

Life and career

Born at Enfield in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, Cowans moved to England with his family when he was just seven years old. At first he worked as a member of the groundstaff at Lord's then joined and in 1981 made his debut for Middlesex. After claiming, at the age of 21, 43 first class wickets for the club, he was picked for England's defence of the Ashes in Australia in 1982/83.[3][5][6] On that tour he had a dismal showing and was underbowled by captain, Bob Willis, until the crucial Fourth Test at Melbourne. This was a match England had to win if they had any hope of retaining the Ashes they won in 1981 at home.

Cowans played the game of his life at the MCG in 1982, where he took a match-winning 6 for 77,

Wisden review of the tour observed: "In retrospect Willis may have felt that more could and should have been made of Norman Cowans's bowling".[8]

The following summer Cowans was in the England squad for the 1983

India. This was Cowans' most lucrative series, and he took 14 wickets,[10] including two at the start of India's second innings in the Delhi Test, a result that at the time "ended England's longest-ever spell without a victory".[11]

Cowans played for England for the last time in the

Leeds by extending England's first-innings lead by 49 in a last-wicket stand with Paul Downton and taking the wickets of David Boon and Allan Border. In this series England would regain the Ashes lost in 1982-3, and it would be their last victory in a home Ashes series for 20 years.[12] Although he toured Sri Lanka with an England 'B' side that winter, taking 6 for 50 in the last unofficial 'Test',[13] He played his best Test cricket away from England (he averaged ten runs fewer a wicket overseas).[14]
but was not again picked for the three lions.

He was however part of a successful

CricInfo described him as "an integral member of the most successful Middlesex team of all time." Cowans also picked up 532 first class and 212 list a wickets in a total of 362 appearances for the said side.[3][4]

Personal life

Cowans is the owner of a sports promotion business. He also works as a

DJ in his spare time.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Norman Cowans". www.cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
  2. ^ "The king of swing". ESPN Cricinfo. 16 November 2006. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d Fraser, Angus (29 October 2020). "NORMAN COWANS LOOKS BACK ON HIS MIDDLESEX & ENGLAND CAREERS". Middlesex County Cricket Club.
  4. ^ a b Miller, Andrew (6 April 2021). "Norman Cowans: 'Kids need a pathway, and a feeling that they belong'". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  5. ^ "Murali unleashed". ESPNcricinfo. 20 July 2005. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Norman Cowans on how playing for England gave Caribbean people hope of a better life for their kids". Sky Sports. 22 October 2020. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  7. ISBN 1-869833-21-X
    .
  8. ^ "England in Australia and New Zealand, 1982-83". Wisden. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  9. ESPNCricinfo
    . Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  10. ^ "Statistics/N G Cowans/test matches". Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  11. ESPNCricinfo
    . Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  12. ESPNCricinfo
    . Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  13. ESPNCricinfo
    . Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  14. ESPNCricinfo
    . Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  15. ESPNCricinfo
    . Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  16. ESPNCricinfo
    . Retrieved 17 May 2022.
  17. ^ "Black History Month: Twenty-One Black Pioneers in English Cricket | Part 1". England and Wales Cricket Board. 1 October 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
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