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

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

er who played for

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

and Leicestershire. He was born at

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

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 a secondary school in Northampton, England. It was founded as Northampton Town and County Grammar School in 1541 by Thomas Chipsey, Mayor of Northampton. Years 7 to 11 are boys-only, while Sixth Form classes ...

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 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

, he spent two years in a

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

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 county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. 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 landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

at Northampton, his highest for the county. However, in the next two seasons he struggled for consistency. Against Glamorgan 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 Oswald Stephen Wheatley (born 28 May 1935) is a former cricketer who played for Cambridge University, Warwickshire and Glamorgan, whom he captained from 1961 to 1966. Wheatley was born at Low Fell, Gateshead, County Durham. He was educated ...

each time. At the end of 1965 Norman moved to Leicestershire 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 days o ...

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