Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

26 series. In reality it was a ludicrous idea because it meant that the only opportunities the local players would have to press their claims or find some form would be in matches against the tourists. Such a programme would seem to be a recipe for disaster. As a result, other than matches against the Australians, there was only one other first-class match in South Africa that summer, a two day game between Griqualand West and Orange Free State which did not involve any Test players. The staleness that all feared proved to be the case as Mitchell, Dalton, Viljoen and Crisp all struggled to recapture the form they showed in England. This rather depressing picture of tragedy, illness, retirements and exhaustion led to some disappointing on- field performances. Eric had a match for Transvaal against the tourists, but made few runs in his only game prior to the First Test. He was beaten and bowled by McCormick’s pace when he had made five in the first innings. In the second he became the first victim of a field placing that would create havoc for the South Africans throughout the tour. Richardson noticed a tendency for the ball to lift when Eric played O’Reilly onto the leg side. He moved himself to silly leg Australian Summer The Australian team on arrival in South Africa. (l to r), standing: unknown, unknown, M.W.Sievers, L.P.J.O’Brien, L.O’B.Fleetwood-Smith, V.Y.Richardson, S.H.D.Rowe((manager), A.G.Chipperfield, C.V.Grimmett, W.A.S.Oldfield, kneeling: L.S.Darling, J.H.W.Fingleton, unknown. [Bassano Collection]