Michael Eric John Charles Norman (born 19 January 1933) is a former professional

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er who played for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. He was born at

Northampton Northampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It is the county town of Northamptonshire and the administrative centre of the Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority of West Northamptonshire. The town is sit ...

in 1933.

Career

Norman's first-class debut, against India in 1952, coincided with that of

Frank Tyson Frank Holmes Tyson (6 June 1930 – 27 September 2015) was an England international cricketer of the 1950s, who also worked as a schoolmaster, journalist, cricket coach and cricket commentator after emigrating to Australia in 1960. Nicknamed " ...

, who regarded the young

Northampton Grammar School Northampton School for Boys (NSB) is an 11–18 boys secondary school in Northampton, England. It was founded as Northampton Grammar School in 1541 by Thomas Chipsey, Mayor of Northampton. Years 7 to 11 are boys-only, while sixth form classes ar ...

old boy as "another

Dennis Brookes Dennis Brookes (29 October 1915 – 9 March 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Northamptonshire between 1934 and 1959 (and as captain between 1954 and 1957). He also played in one Test match for England against West Indies in 1948. ...

in the making". It took several seasons for Norman to establish himself in the first team. A

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, he spent two years in a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

before finally deciding on a cricket career. In 1959, Brookes' last season, Norman made his presence felt with just over 1,000 runs and a maiden Championship century against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

. The following year, when he established a long-running opening partnership with Brian Reynolds, Norman "improved immensely", according to the club's Annual Report, and the four summers between 1960 and 1963 brought him 7,150 county runs. His four hundreds in 1963 included 152 against

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

at Northampton, his highest for the county. However, in the next two seasons he struggled for consistency. Against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

in 1964 he suffered the miserable experience of a king pair (falling to the first ball of each innings) in one day, to Ossie Wheatley each time. At the end of 1965 Norman moved to

and enjoyed a new lease of cricketing life. He played on until 1975, combining cricket with teaching in the last few years of his career. He adapted with conspicuous success to the rough-and-tumble of the

John Player League The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on day ...

which Leicestershire won, with Norman's help, in 1974. In the 1976–77 season, Norman was a member of the MCC team that was the first international cricket team to tour Bangladesh.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, Mick 1933 births Living people English cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Leicestershire cricketers Cricketers from Northampton People educated at Northampton School for Boys A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers 20th-century English sportsmen