Norman_Burrell
Norman Burrell
English cricketer and soldier
Norman Sidney John Burrell (17 September 1900 — 7 November 1986) was an English first-class cricketer and an important figure in colonial cricket in Lahore.
Burrell was born at Chelmsford in September 1900 and was educated at Brentwood School.[1] He served as a non-commissioned officer in the nascent Royal Air Force in the closing stages of the First World War.[2] Following the war, he worked as a clerk in the insurance industry.[2] His career took him to British India, where he resided at Lahore. Burrell was an important figure in the Lahore Gymkhana Club, becoming its cricket secretary in 1927.[3] Whilst in Lahore, he featured twice in first-class cricket, firstly for the Punjab Governor's XI against Northern India in March 1928, and later for the Europeans cricket team against the Muslims in the 1929–30 Lahore Tournament.[4] In these matches, he scored 7 runs and went wicketless.[5] Burrell played club cricket in Northern India, and alongside Roland Ingram-Johnson, he was the only club cricketer to pass 1,000 runs for the season in 1927.[6] He married Mary Gillert in April 1934 at All Saints Church, Srinagar.[7]
Following the Partition of India, he played a role alongside George Abell in getting the newly-formed Pakistan national cricket team recognised by the Imperial Cricket Conference,[8] with their elevation to Test status coming in 1952. Having left Lahore in 1946,[9] Burrell returned to Essex, where he became bursar at Brentwood School until his retirement in 1968.[1] He died at Havering in November 1986.