Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

18 England 1935 reply at the start of the second day. Siedle and Mitchell began with a partnership of 42 before pace man Stan Nichols bowled the latter for 25, bringing Eric out to play his first Test innings. He survived a close leg-before appeal from the second ball he received, from leg-spinner Walter Robins. After that he used quick footwork to counter the spin of Verity and the South Africans reached lunch in comfort at 98 for one. Eric’s innings ended shortly after play resumed when he swung at a long hop from Robins and only succeeded in edging it to the keeper Les Ames. He had batted 80 minutes for his 20 runs and it was a disappointing end to a promising display. After his dismissal the innings subsided for just 220 and Wyatt had no hesitation in enforcing the follow on. The Tests for the summer were scheduled for three days and it would take some exceptional cricket by one side or some poor play by the other to force a result. That looked likely to happen when Nichols, who had taken 6/35 in the first innings, removed Siedle for two, leaving Mitchell (8 not out) and Eric (6 not out) to survive through to stumps. At 17 for one the South Africans faced a hard fight to save the game, but the weather stepped in and there was no further play. Eric was in no doubt that the tourists had enjoyed an escape. ‘We got caught on a drying wicket in the First Test and probably would have lost if rain hadn’t washed out the final day.’ It was an opinion shared by most and the tourists left Old Trafford believing that they had enjoyed a lucky escape. One of the games prior to the Second Test was against Yorkshire at Sheffield. Eric was batting well and had reached 76, enjoying a partnership of 101 for the fifth wicket with ‘Jock’ Cameron, when he was struck on the head by a delivery from fast bowler Bill Bowes. The batsman refused to retire hurt, but was clearly unsettled and was dismissed later in the same over. Cameron told Bowes that if he did the same to him he would hit him with his bat. The wicketkeeper-batsman went on to produce one of his greatest displays, making a spectacular century during the course of which he struck left-arm spinner Hedley Verity for three fours and three sixes in one over. After observing the 30-run assault, keeper Arthur Wood was prompted to make a famous comment, ‘Never mind, Hedley, tha has him in two minds. He doesn’t know whether to hit thee for four or six.’ The real benefit for the South Africans was the return to form and fitness of Xenophon Balaskas. In the second innings against