Lives in Cricket No 32 - Eric Rowan

90 Eric’s opponents also paid tribute to his skills. Ken Archer was Australia’s twelfth man for all five Tests of the 1949/50 series. ‘My assessment of his batting was that his self-belief and his physical courage were of a higher order than his talent. Eric wasn’t stylish or fluent and didn’t seem to have a wide range of shots. My recollection, perhaps coloured, is that he played and missed a fair bit against Lindwall, Miller and Bill Johnston and got more than his share of edges through the slips cordon, but he didn’t surrender.’ Australian all-rounder Sam Loxton mentioned that Eric faced the same attack as England had in 1948 and that only Compton (562) made more runs than Eric and the other veteran Nourse. ‘He was a fighter, a worthy opponent. He could have been an Aussie,’ Loxton recalled. Arthur Morris also mentioned Eric’s capacity to fight it out, regardless of the odds. Author Denzil Batchelor’s description of Eric also mentioned his Australian-like attitude. ‘He is so fanatically sure of his own dominance that nature wasted him as a South African – he had a right to be an Australian.’ Batchelor also made mention of Eric’s attitude, ‘Cocky? Yes – of course he was cocky. None had more to be cocky about.’ Eric playing a typical back foot shot. [Bassano Collection] The Last Hurrah