Norman Cowans
{{short description|English cricketer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Norman Cowans
| image =
| fullname = Norman George Cowans
| nickname = Flash
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1961|4|17|df=yes}}
| birth_place = St. Mary, Jamaica
| country = England
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Right-arm fast
| columns = 4
| column1 = Test
| matches1 = 19
| runs1 = 175
| bat avg1 = 7.95
| 100s/50s1 = 0/0
| top score1 = 36
| deliveries1 = 3,452
| wickets1 = 51
| bowl avg1 = 39.27
| fivefor1 = 2
| tenfor1 = 0
| best bowling1 = 6/77
| catches/stumpings1 = 9/–
| column2 = ODI
| matches2 = 23
| runs2 = 13
| bat avg2 = 2.60
| 100s/50s2 = 0/0
| top score2 = 4*
| deliveries2 = 1,282
| wickets2 = 23
| bowl avg2 = 39.69
| fivefor2 = 0
| tenfor2 = 0
| best bowling2 = 3/44
| catches/stumpings2 = 5/–
| column3 = FC
| matches3 = 239
| runs3 = 1,605
| bat avg3 = 8.91
| 100s/50s3 = 0/1
| top score3 = 66
| deliveries3 = 33,023
| wickets3 = 662
| bowl avg3 = 24.86
| fivefor3 = 23
| tenfor3 = 1
| best bowling3 = 6/31
| catches/stumpings3 = 63/–
| date = 26 November
| year = 2017
| source = http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/10839.html CricInfo
| column4=LA|matches4=224|runs4=281|bat avg4=5.62|100s/50s4=0/0|top score4=27|deliveries4=11128|wickets4=263|bowl avg4=27.33|fivefor4=1|tenfor4=0|best bowling4=6/9|catches/stumpings4=40/-|club1=Middlesex|club2=Hampshire|year1=1980–1993|year2=1993–1995|role=Bowler}}
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.{{cite web | url = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/1/1690/1690.html| title = Norman Cowans | publisher = www.cricketarchive.com | access-date = 2012-01-05}} Cowans also played first-class and List A cricket for both Middlesex and Hampshire.{{cite web |url=http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/149559.html |title=The king of swing |access-date=16 November 2017 |work=ESPN Cricinfo|date=16 November 2006 }}
He won four County Championship titles along with four limited-overs titles with Middlesex. Andrew Miller of 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.{{Cite web |last=Fraser |first=Angus |date=29 October 2020 |title=NORMAN COWANS LOOKS BACK ON HIS MIDDLESEX & ENGLAND CAREERS |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2b_vuWWfYI |website=Middlesex County Cricket Club}}{{Cite web |last=Miller |first=Andrew |date=6 April 2021 |title=Norman Cowans: 'Kids need a pathway, and a feeling that they belong' |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/norman-cowans-on-middlesex-s-new-diversity-scheme-kids-need-a-pathway-and-a-feeling-that-they-belong-1257894 |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=ESPNcricinfo |language=en}}
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.{{Cite web |date=20 July 2005 |title=Murali unleashed |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/murali-unleashed-124431 |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=ESPNcricinfo |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=22 October 2020 |title=Norman Cowans on how playing for England gave Caribbean people hope of a better life for their kids |url=https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/12123/12105796/norman-cowans-on-how-playing-for-england-gave-caribbean-people-hope-of-a-better-life-for-their-kids |access-date=2023-04-16 |website=Sky Sports |language=en}} 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,{{cite book |title=If The Cap Fits |last=Bateman |first=Colin |year=1993 |publisher=Tony Williams Publications |isbn=1-869833-21-X |page=[https://archive.org/details/ifcapfits0000unse/page/43 43] |url=https://archive.org/details/ifcapfits0000unse/page/43 }} following his first innings 2 for 69 (which included the first-ball scalp of Greg Chappell), in England's dramatic three-run victory. This victory sent the series to Sydney for the deciding Fifth Test, which ended in a draw, meaning Australia regained the Ashes. The 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".{{cite web|url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/wisdenalmanack/content/story/154322.html|title=England in Australia and New Zealand, 1982-83|publisher=Wisden|access-date=15 May 2022}}
The following summer Cowans was in the England squad for the 1983 Cricket World Cup, and although he only played one match in the tournament, he helped England to win a subsequent test series against New Zealand. The following winter Cowans took his second and last five-wicket haul in Tests, helping to derail a Pakistan run chase with three wickets in an over.{{cite web |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/pakistan-v-england-1983-84-152312|title=Pakistan v England 1983-4|publisher=ESPNCricinfo|access-date=15 Mar 2022}} England lost this series, but the following winter Cowans was on the winning side, and he played in every test as David Gower's team surprised India. This was Cowans' most lucrative series, and he took 14 wickets,{{cite web |url=https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/10839.html?class=1;template=results;type=allround;view=match |title=Statistics/N G Cowans/test matches |access-date=15 Mar 2022}} 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".{{cite web |url= https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/india-v-england-1984-85-151945|title=India v England 1984-5|publisher=ESPNCricinfo|access-date=15 Mar 2022}}
Cowans played for England for the last time in the 1985 Ashes, assisting England's victory in the 1st Test at 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.{{cite web |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/australia-tour-of-england-1985-61363/england-vs-australia-1st-test-63403/full-scorecard|title=Full Scorecard of Australia v England 1st Test 1985|publisher=ESPNCricinfo|access-date=15 Mar 2022}} Although he toured Sri Lanka with an England 'B' side that winter, taking 6 for 50 in the last unofficial 'Test',{{cite web|url=http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1985-86/OTHERS+ICC/ENG-B_IN_SL/ENG-B_SL_22-25FEB1986.html|title=Sri Lankans v England 'B' at Galle, 22-25 February 1986|publisher=ESPNCricinfo|access-date=29 June 2022}} He played his best Test cricket away from England (he averaged ten runs fewer a wicket overseas).{{cite web |title=Statistics/NG Cowans/Test Matches |url=https://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/player/10839.html?class=1;template=results;type=allround |access-date=29 June 2022 |publisher=ESPNCricinfo}} but was not again picked for the three lions.
He was however part of a successful Middlesex team, bowling alongside Wayne Daniel, Simon Hughes, Neil Williams, and, eventually Angus Fraser. A highlight of his county career came in 1983 when he claimed 4 for 33, and won the man of the match award, in the semi-final of the Benson and Hedges Cup. He later took 4 for 39 to help Middlesex win the final and claim the tournament's trophy.{{cite web|url=http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1980S/1983/ENG_LOCAL/B+H/MIDDX_LANCS_B+H_06JUL1983.html|title=Middlesex v Lancashire at Lord's 6 Jul 1983|publisher=ESPNCricinfo|access-date=29 June 2022}} During the 1990 and 1993 season he was a part of the Middlesex sides that won the County Championship, topping the first-class bowling averages in the latter season with 16 wickets at 14.62.{{cite web|url=http://static.espncricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/1993/ENG_LOCAL/ENG_FC_1993_BOWL_AVS.html|title=First Class Season 1993 - Leading Bowling Averages|publisher=ESPNCricinfo|access-date=17 May 2022}} He eventually won four County Championship titles, in 1982, 1985, 1990, and 1993, along with four limited-overs titles in his fifteen seasons with Middlesex. Andrew Miller of 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.
Personal life
Cowans is the owner of a sports promotion business. He also works as a DJ in his spare time.{{Cite web |date=1 October 2022 |title=Black History Month: Twenty-One Black Pioneers in English Cricket {{!}} Part 1 |url=http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/1870242 |access-date=2023-04-15 |website=England and Wales Cricket Board |language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{England Squad 1983 Cricket World Cup}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowans, Norman}}
Category:Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup
Category:English people of Jamaican descent
Category:Sportspeople of Jamaican descent
Category:England Test cricketers
Category:England One Day International cricketers
Category:Black British sportsmen
Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
Category:Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:D. B. Close's XI cricketers