Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

89 Currie Cup to keep him motivated as the competition had been shelved once again due to the visit of a touring team and there were only games against New Zealand and a few friendly first- class fixtures available. Eric played in Transvaal’s first match against Natal, scoring seven and 55 in a drawn game. The following game against Border at Ellis Park was his last in first-class cricket. After scoring 18 in the first innings, he made 45 not out in the second as Transvaal chased down 66 to win by ten wickets. So he walked off unbeaten and a winner and in Eric’s world that was probably the perfect ending. He decided to call it a day, ending a first-class career that had begun in 1929/30 when many of his opponents and teammates were not even born. In 157 games he scored 11,710 runs at 48.58 with 30 centuries. Twenty-six of those matches were Tests in which he made 1965 runs at 43.66 with three hundreds. Of those who represented South Africa during Eric’s career only Dudley Nourse and Bruce Mitchell are able to stand comparison with him. For a player not overly gifted with natural talent he had certainly extracted the most from what he had. In his citation as one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year the following comment was made about the way he played. ‘Concentration is the keynote of Eric Rowan’s batting, but he can entertain. He has an easy stance and is quick on his feet. The leg glance is one of his best strokes and the chop or true cut through slips is another of his favourite methods of scoring. Rowan drives fearlessly and fluently against the fastest bowlers, pulls powerfully and has the knack of impudently spooning strokes from off-spin bowlers safely over the heads of the leg trap.’ Those who played with or against Eric all comment on his strength square of the wicket, a result of playing so much of his early cricket on matting pitches, as John Watkins stated in his Foreword. The bounce of the mat and Eric’s slight build and small stature would have made it easier to use the pace of the ball as he did not possess the strength to unleash thunderous drives. Wisden noted the power of his concentration. He was never an easy wicket, never prepared to throw an innings away regardless of the situation of the match or how many runs he had scored. Coupled with that concentration was a determination never to give in and to always believe that he was the equal of anyone. This meant that he was never in awe of an opponent. Often he was critical of some of his colleagues, who appeared to fall under the spell of a name, rather than to watch the ball being delivered to them. The Last Hurrah