Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

6 Introduction The author believes that a suitable subject for a cricketing biography must have either led a fascinating and interesting life, been a controversial character, or that research has uncovered something new to say. Without these qualifications a biography may simply become an account of matches and scorecards. If readers think of the best cricket biographies they have read, I am certain that the subject will have fulfilled one or more of these criteria. Authors such as Gideon Haigh, David Foot and David Frith understand this and have provided superb examples with their choice of subjects. I was once asked to write a biography of a famous Australian player of the 1930s. The offer was declined because I felt there was little to say other than that he was just about the nicest man in the world and to recount the games in which he played. My interest took me to research and record the lives of Australians Sid Barnes, Herbert Hordern and Albert and Harry Trott. All of them led interesting and, in many ways, fascinating lives. Barnes seemed almost to have a mortgage on being controversial. In fact, in a conversation with the author, former South African captain Ali Bacher called Eric Rowan ‘the stormy petrel of South African cricket’ and said that in many ways he was similar to Sid Barnes. Some might think this a harsh way to choose a subject, but the results for both the reader and the writer make for a satisfying experience. Eric Rowan meets this author’s criteria. He led an interesting life and, while he was undoubtedly a fine player, he was one of the most controversial cricketers ever to represent South Africa. Very few have been summarily dismissed by their country’s administrators, especially after completing a tour in which they were clearly the best batsman on either side. How is it that an Australian living in Tasmania comes to write about a South African cricketer who played before he was born? The reason is purely down to one man, South African journalist and cricket historian, Brian Bassano. He was responsible for introducing me to Eric Rowan, not personally, although I would have loved the opportunity to meet him, but through Brian’s