About Norman Cowans
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. Cowans also played first-class and List A cricket for both Middlesex and Hampshire. 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. == 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. 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.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.