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Norman George Cowans (born 17 April 1961) is a former cricketer who played in 19 Test matches and 23 One Day Internationals between 1982 and 1985 for the England cricket team.[1] He played first-class cricket for Middlesex and Hampshire County Cricket Clubs.

Norman Cowans

Personal information
Full name	Norman George Cowans
Born	(1961-04-17) 17 April 1961 (age 61) St. Mary, Jamaica
Nickname	Flash
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm fast
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI F/C Matches 19 23 239 Runs scored 175 13 1,605 Batting average 7.95 2.60 8.91 100s/50s 0/0 0/0 0/1 Top score 36 4* 66 Balls bowled 3,452 1,282 33,023 Wickets 51 23 662 Bowling average 39.27 39.69 24.86 5 wickets in innings 2 0 23 10 wickets in match 0 0 1 Best bowling 6/77 3/44 6/31 Catches/stumpings 9/– 5/– 63/–
Source: CricInfo, 26 November 2017

Cowans was a right-arm fast bowler and a right-handed lower-order batsman and became the 500th person to play Test cricket for England.[2]

Life and career

Born at Enfield in Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica, Cowans moved to England with his family when he was eleven. He played County Championship cricket for Middlesex and then Hampshire, winning three Championships and four limited-overs titles (all with Middlesex) in his fifteen seasons. On his first tour overseas, on England's defence of the Ashes in Australia in 1982/83, he often struggled, was wayward in line and length, and was underbowled by captain, Bob Willis, until the crucial Fourth Test at Melbourne, a match England had to win if they had any hope of retaining the Ashes they won at home in 1981.

Cowans played the game of his life at the MCG in 1982, where he took a match-winning 6 for 77,[3] 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 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. England lost this series, but the following year 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.[4]

He played his best Test cricket away from England (he averaged ten runs fewer a wicket overseas), and he was not picked for England again after 1985. He remained 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 took 4 for 39 to help Middlesex win the final of the Benson and Hedges Cup.[5] But as late as 1990 he was still part of the Middlesex side that won the County Championship.

References

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