Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

41 Melville (107) and Nourse (74) were the major players in South Africa’s second innings of 481. While all this was happening the days were passing and when they began their second innings England needed a colossal 696 to win. The pitch remained good and they set off in pursuit of the impossible. At the end of the tenth day, the eighth one having been washed out, the score stood at 654 for five after Bill Edrich (219), Hammond (140) and Gibb (120) had dominated the bowling. There, the game ended as the Englishmen had to catch their boat home. After so many days it must have been frustrating as they were within sight of victory. Their consolation was that they had taken the series by winning the only match completed. The format of a Timeless Test has never been repeated although it was a possibility up to 1948. Apart from Valentine who was not out in his second innings, Eric with 33 and 0 was the least successful of the recognized batsmen in this match. It was not a record that would have sat well with him. The 1938/39 series was certainly one for the batsmen, and the South Africans were left to consider that their one batting collapse was the difference between defeat and an honourable draw, because, apart from that, no side looked remotely like bowling the other out twice. The South Africans had struggled gamely against a superior side and by winning four of the five tosses, Hammond gave his batsmen the best use of the conditions. Apart from Langton’s burst of 5/58 at Johannesburg in the Fourth Test only the lion-hearted Norman ‘Mobil’ Gordon proved a constant threat, taking 20 wickets at 40.35 with his accurate medium-fast deliveries. The Englishmen, Len Hutton in particular, thought he would be a match-winner in England, but sadly he never had the chance to tour. In spite of the dominance of the batting, the games attracted record crowds and the tour produced a handsome profit. Eric could be well pleased with this form following his recall for the Second Test. He had made three half-centuries in amassing 284 runs at 47.33, and, while he had failed to convert any of them to a three-figure score, he was happy with the consistency. At the end of the series he must have felt that he had established a regular place in the Test side, but he was not to know that through different sets of circumstances he was not to wear the Springbok colours again for a decade. Restoration