Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

47 Springbok batsman Jack Nel believed that non-selection for this tour and Eric’s subsequent failure to be awarded the South African captaincy led to some bitterness, with the opening batsman appearing to be almost jealous of Melville and Nourse when he played under them. Nel was aware of the rumours circulating prior to the 1947 tour that Melville had made it clear that if Eric was chosen he would withdraw. While no firm evidence exists for this, the fact that one of the best batsmen in the country was omitted suggests that something more than playing ability was involved. In defence of the selectors Eric did not enjoy a good first-class season in 1946/47 when he really needed runs to make certain of a place in the side. Back with Transvaal after the year with Eastern Province he scored 256 runs at 32.00 in his five games. Innings of 96 in the season’s first game against Griqualand West and 50 against Natal were the only occasions he reached the half- century mark. For Jeppe he had been in top form, beginning the season with 450 runs in his first five innings, and, as one reporter put it, ‘There is a big gap between Eric Rowan and the rest of the batsmen’. Another wrote, ‘Athol Rowan is one of the certainties for the Springbok tour of England next year and there is little doubt that Eric, his brother, will also be included.’ Jeppe went on to win the League under Eric’s captaincy. It seems that everyone except the selectors thought he should be chosen. Perhaps at the age of 37 he might have been considered a little too old, but a number of others who were taken were in the veteran class, including Ken Viljoen, Bruce Mitchell and Dudley Nourse. The captain himself was also no longer in the first flush of youth. Writing in the Sports Express after the announcement of the side T.D. Nelson called the omission of Eric ‘the biggest surprise’ and was certain that the team would miss him as an opening bat. His words were to prove prophetic as the Springboks struggled to find an opening partner for the veteran Mitchell. Unfortunately the tour was not a success with the bowlers destroyed principally by the Middlesex pair of Denis Compton and Bill Edrich, who both scored in excess of 3,000 runs during the summer, a great many of them off the tourists. After drawing the First Test the South Africans were comfortably defeated in the next three before drawing the last. It was the veteran players who held the batting together. Melville had an excellent series, scoring 569 runs at 63.22 with three centuries, as did Dudley Lost Years