Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

70 Brown in Cricket Musketeer twice refers to Eric’s field placings pinning down the England batsmen . With a small lead the South Africans struggled to 95 for five by stumps on the fourth day, mostly due to some superb bowling by Alec Bedser. There was further bad news that Nourse was unable to bat, having aggravated his injured thumb during his long innings. On the final morning the South African innings was quickly wrapped up for 121, leaving England 185 to win. With Nourse out of action Eric took over the captaincy to prevent what seemed a reasonably easy task. However, it was a fifth-day pitch and Eric believed there might be some assistance for his spinners. As there was no chance of saving the game all that remained was for the South Africans to try and win it, so Eric set attacking fields and put his faith in his bowlers. Athol made the initial break, taking a return catch to dismiss Hutton for 11, then he and Mann combined to work their way steadily through the England batting. When Trevor Bailey was caught behind off Mann the total stood at 84 for 8 and the South Africans could just about taste the victory. However, the matter was not settled as Johnny Wardle decided to swing the bat while Bedser defended stubbornly in support. With the spinners unable to break through, Eric brought back McCarthy who promptly bowled Bedser for a duck after a partnership of 30 for the ninth wicket. Then, four runs later, at five minutes past four, Wardle skied the ball to Roy McLean, on the field for Nourse, who took the catch and hurled the ball high in the air in delight. Athol had taken five for 68, his best figures in Tests, while Mann had four for 24 off 24 overs. Both had turned the ball considerably on a pitch with plenty of bite. Eric later recounted that some advice from the past influenced his tactics on the final day. ‘On the night before we won the game I remembered Uncle Freddy le Roux telling me to put an extra man on the leg side for Athol in a club game.’ He did and they won. ‘I adopted the same tactic in the Test. Uncle Freddy was sitting in the stand to see it.’ Fred le Roux was a right-hand batsman and medium pace bowler who played a single Test for South Africa in 1913/14 and first-class cricket for Transvaal and Eastern Province from 1908/09 to 1928/29. Nourse paid tribute to Eric’s on-field leadership as the 71 run victory was South Africa’s first against England in England since the Lord’s Test in 1935 and only their second overall. A game up in the series, the tourists’ next engagement was at Triumph and Controversy