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| Full name | Norman George Cowans | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1961-04-17)17 April 1961 (age 64) St. Mary,Jamaica | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Flash | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm fast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Bowler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1980–1993 | Middlesex | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1993–1995 | Hampshire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:CricInfo,26 November 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Norman George Cowans (born 17 April 1961) is a formercricketer who mainly played as a right-arm fast bowler. He was the 500th cricketer to play Test cricket forEngland, featuring between 1982 and 1985 in 19Test matches and 23One Day Internationals.[1] Cowans also playedfirst-class andList A cricket for bothMiddlesex andHampshire.[2]
He won fourCounty Championship titles along with four limited-overs titles with Middlesex. Andrew Miller ofCricInfo 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]
Born at Enfield inSaint 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 atLord'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 ofthe Ashes in Australia in 1982/83.[3][5][6] On that tour he had a dismal showing and was underbowled bycaptain,Bob Willis, until the crucial Fourth Test atMelbourne. This was a match England had to win if they had any hope of retainingthe 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,[7] following his first innings 2 for 69 (which included the first-ball scalp ofGreg Chappell), in England's dramatic three-run victory. This victory sent the series toSydney for the deciding Fifth Test, which ended in a draw, meaning Australia regained the Ashes. TheWisden 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 1983Cricket World Cup, and although he only played one match in the tournament, he helped England to win a subsequent test series againstNew Zealand. The following winter Cowans took his second and lastfive-wicket haul in Tests, helping to derail aPakistan run chase with three wickets in an over.[9] England lost this series, but the following winter Cowans was on the winning side, and he played in every test asDavid Gower's team surprisedIndia. 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 the1985 Ashes, assisting England's victory in the 1st Test atLeeds by extending England's first-innings lead by 49 in a last-wicket stand withPaul Downton and taking the wickets ofDavid Boon andAllan 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 successfulMiddlesex team, bowling alongsideWayne Daniel,Simon Hughes,Neil Williams, and, eventuallyAngus Fraser. A highlight of his county career came in 1983 when he claimed 4 for 33, and won theman of the match award, in the semi-final of theBenson and Hedges Cup. He later took 4 for 39 to help Middlesex win the final and claim the tournament's trophy.[3][15] During the 1990 and 1993 season he was a part of the Middlesex sides that won theCounty Championship, topping thefirst-class bowling averages in the latter season with 16 wickets at 14.62.[16] He eventually won fourCounty Championship titles, in1982,1985,1990, and1993, along with four limited-overs titles in his fifteen seasons with Middlesex. Andrew Miller ofCricInfo 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]
Cowans is the owner of a sports promotion business. He also works as aDJ in his spare time.[17]
