Norman Hever

Norman Hever was Glamorgan`s strike bowler during their Championship winning season of 1948, when his lively fast-medium bowling claimed 84 wickets at just 17 apiece. It was a sterling performance that deservedly won Hever his county cap, and led to his selection in the 1949 Test Trial at Edgbaston.

Hever had previously been on the M.C.C. groundstaff and had played a handful of games for Middlesex in 1947. With many fine bowlers on their staff, Middlesex could not guarantee regular first team cricket for Hever, so he left and joined Glamorgan for 1948. It was a shrewd move, both for Hever and Glamorgan, as in his first two seasons with Glamorgan, he claimed 154 wickets.

He was cleverly used by captain Wilf Wooller in short and very effective bursts, and amongst his many fine returns in Championsip cricket were figures of 5/39 against Middlsex at the Arms Park, and then 5/34 when the sides met at Lord`s. In 1949 Hever took 70 wickets, followed by 57 in 1950, and 63 in 1952. His role as a shock bowler meant that he never took 10 wickets in a match, but he claimed five wickets in an innings on eleven occasions.

Hever retired from county cricket in 1954, and later became groundsman at Peterborough, and subsequently at Northamptonshire`s headquarters. He worked at the Wantage Road ground from 1961 until 1973, and won the Groundsman of the Year award on five occasions, including a consecutive run from 1982 until 1985. (Submitted by Andrew Hignell - April 2000)