Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

83 batting. Furthermore, he stamped his own tenacious personality wherever he appeared …. His belief in his own abilities, and those of the men he leads when he is captain, often appears to border on cheekiness, and at times his exuberant personality has brought him into conflict with the higher powers, but, whatever the reasons for any such disagreements, no one could dispute his worth as a cricketer.’ Wisden also commented on his leadership skills. ‘He proved himself to be quick-witted and shrewd, although hard. When setting a field, attack is the first thought in his mind, with batsmen allowed as little scope as possible to play scoring strokes.’ Chubb led the bowling with 76 wickets at 26.38, while Athol’s 53 wickets cost 26.58 each. Throughout the tour Athol suffered problems with his knee and his bowling spells had to be carefully managed to keep him fit for the Tests. The case for the future development made by the tour was a poor one. The most successful batsman and bowler were both over forty. A number of batsmen such as McGlew, Cheetham and Waite had gained valuable experience which it was hoped could be put into practice in the future. The bowling front was even more distressing. Apart from the veteran Chubb, who could not be expected to continue, Athol’s knee had brought him to the end of the road while Mann’s illness had ended his career at a tragically early age. Of the younger bowlers Melle had performed well, but Tayfield had taken few wickets at a high cost and had not been able to force his way into the Test team. It seemed he preferred the harder wickets of his homeland. In the end, perhaps the only positive was the substantial profit, but the events of that day in Manchester had not been forgotten and if Eric thought the matter was over and done with he was in for a shock. Before that happened there was a domestic season to be played out before South Africa’s next Test assignment, a tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1952/53. This was a disappointing summer for Transvaal as they finished on the bottom of the A section and were relegated for the next season. Eric was in charge of a largely inexperienced team, with no less than six players making their debut in the first game. In spite of the problems the veteran scored 391 runs at 48.87. He batted for 210 minutes in making 64 against Natal and followed 77 out of 116 scored while he was at the crease in a total of 163 all out against Western Province. His Consequences