Eric Rowan

Who was Eric Rowan?

Eric Alfred Burchell Rowan, born on 20 July 1909 and died at Johannesburg on 30 April 1993, was a cricketer who played for Transvaal, Eastern Province and South Africa.

An opening batsman, Rowan was a dominant personality in South African cricket for more than 20 years on either side of the Second World War. He sometimes batted without gloves and, allegedly, without a "box" protector, and he was fearless against authority too. This led at times to his omission from the South African Test team, notably when he was left out of the 1947 tour to England.

Rowan played for Transvaal from the age of 20, but had to wait five years before making his Test debut on the 1935 tour to England. He had limited success in the Tests on this tour, with a highest score of just 62, but was the leading scorer in first-class games, with 1,948 runs in total and six centuries. In the series against Australia that followed, he began well with 66 and 49 in the first Test, but failed against Clarrie Grimmett in the next two Tests, and was dropped from the team.

Returning to the South African Test team in the 1938-39 series against England, Rowan appeared to have cemented his place with 284 runs in four matches, with a top score of 89 not out. But it was another 10 years before he played Test cricket again, as his clashes with authority led to his omission. Even when he was reinstated, in the 1948-49 home series against England, it was announced during the second Test at Johannesburg that he would be dropped for the next match: he responded by scoring an unbeaten 156 that enabled his team to salvage a draw after they had been 293 behind on the first innings. He played another match-saving innings in the fourth Test of the series.