Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

51 disappointing game for him. However, the task of scoring the runs was anything but easy. While it was the spinners who had held control in the first innings it was the pace of Cuan McCarthy that dominated the second. Capable of blistering speed, but with an action some considered suspect, McCarthy proved a handful for the batsman as he took six wickets to destroy England’s middle order. With eight runs needed and eight wickets down and the last over to be bowled by medium-fast Lindsay Tuckett, all results were possible, and this was still the case with three deliveries remaining and two runs required. The weather had not been good during the match. Two hours were lost on the first day and poor light and rain had hampered bowlers throughout. The batsmen, Bedser and Gladwin, met in mid-pitch and decided to run for everything. In spite of entreaties from his players who knew what was up, Nourse refused to bring in his fieldsmen. Tuckett remembered the situation, ‘I didn’t relish the idea of bowling the last over – eight deliveries with a wet and slippery ball. I was stiff and it was wet. Nourse wanted me to bowl at the wicket, but I lost control of one and the fielder couldn’t get it and it went to the boundary. I bowled a short one to Bedser and hit him, but Nourse still told me to bowl at the wicket.’ Tuckett noticed that the batsmen Gladwin and Bedser were gaining a head start from the non-striker’s end before he had delivered the ball. Tuckett went over to Nourse. ‘I told him I was going to run this bugger out as he was backing up so far. I was told, “We don’t do that sort of thing in Test cricket.” They were on their way before I let go of the ball.’ He was right. The final delivery thudded into Gladwin’s thigh and Bedser was nearly down the other end to meet him in making the winning run. Eric remained scathing in his contempt of what had occurred and of Nourse’s strategy. ‘They shouldn’t have won. It was poor tactics. We should’ve brought the field right in. If he could hit a four and win it, okay. It was very bad.’ One is left with the impression that if Eric had been in charge we might have seen a Test ending with a ‘Mankad’ because the batsman was taking an unfair advantage. This was the term used to describe the running out of a batsman who had backed up too far at the bowler’s end. It was named after the Indian Vinoo Mankad who had dismissed Australian batsman Bill Brown in this manner during the 1947/48 Indian tour of Australia. After their narrow defeat the South Africans were hoping for better The ‘V’ Sign