by Arunabha Sengupta
South African summer 1926.
The 17-year-old youngster was playing his first match for the Jeppe Old Boys. In the opposition was ‘Buster’ Nupen, an established Test cricketer and a master quick bowler on mat.
The lad, worried about confronting the big name, arrived nervously at the crease, his feet all leaden with tension. He was bowled first ball.
When he walked back to the pavilion, he received a cuff across the earhole from his father. “If I ever see you frightened when you go in to bat you’ll get a good hiding and I’ll stop you playing.”
Eric Rowan was never accused of being frightened again. 22 years later, at Ellis Park, he saved a Test for South Africa against England, battling Alec Bedser and the rest of them through the last day, scoring 156 not out when the match ended. He wisecracked and laughed his way through the morning session, playing as if he was still turning out for the Jeppe Old Boys.
And all the while—mark this all those who think not wearing a helmet is the holy grail of cricket—he did not wear gloves, or a box.
He also courted controversy by giving the Churchillian V sign to the selectors during the innings, as he passed his milestones. They had announced the team for the third Test at Newlands on the fourth day, and Rowan had been omitted. That was his way of responding. When the authorities, miffed at this display, asked him to explain, Rowan said, “How can it be obscene? It’s Churchill, V for victory?”
Bravery and controversy would go hand in hand in his career.
They could not keep him out for long. The following season, in that immortal Test match at Kingsmead, Rowan scored 143 against Lindwall, Miller and Johnston—once again without gloves or box.
Yes, Miller and Lindwall without any protection. At the age of 40.
Rowan was 42 when he went to England for the final time, with the 1951 side led by Dudley Nourse. The War had scooped out the best years of his cricketing life, but he was still at his peak.
The England series was the best of his career, 515 runs at 57.22. This included 236 and 60 not out in the Headlingley Test, the double hundred was then the highest ever score for South Africa.
Yet, he courted controversy. When he batted slowly against Lancashire, the crowd responded with slow claps. Rowan sat down on the pitch and refused to continue the game. In an interview after the match, he was rather critical of the crowd behaviour.
Besides, his rather appreciative but unrepeatable remark when actress Vivian Leigh met the players backstage after a performance, and his rather irreverent way of kissing Lady Belper goodbye after a visit to Lord Belper’s Kingston Hall—the latter a pioneering act—had opinions polarized.
His conflicts with manager Sid Pegler were also protracted.
Rowan ended the tour with 1852 runs at 50.05, heading the averages. But was dropped from the South African side thereafter. It ended his Test career after 26 Tests, with returns of 1965 runs at 43.66
Brother Athol Rowan, 12 years younger, was a fantastic off-spinner, whose career also ended with the England tour. However, in his case it was because of a bad knee.
At the time of his retirement, Eric Rowan held the record of the highest score for South Africa in Tests, Currie Cup and first-class cricket.
2018. I was entertaining a South African family in Amsterdam. An old gentleman nearing 80, his wife, two middle-aged sons and their wives.
The old boy turned out to a cricket fan, pleased to his gills when I talked about Bruce Mitchell and Hugh Tayfield. He rewarded me with this delightful story.
In 1966-67, South Africa were starved of international cricket. The Australian tour had attracted enormous interest.
My elderly friend, a young man at that time, had turned up outside Newlands with his wife, somehow having managed to get hold of one ticket. Trying hard to get both of them inside the ground, the man left his wife outside the gate as he went around the stadium in search of a ticket.
Just before the lunch break, a nattily dressed gentleman in his late fifties walked out and the lady approached him. Was he leaving for the day? Could she have his ticket in that case?
The man looked at the young lady and said, “Of course, all I need to get in is to let the steward take a good look at my face. I’ll give you my ticket if you’ll give me a kiss.”
Knowing how much her husband wanted to see the Test match, the lady obliged.
When the man returned empty handed from his search for a ticket around the stadium, his wife waved her pass joyfully and they went in. However, the name on the pass was a surprise. An enormous surprise.
The pass opened major gates. Even with his own ordinary ticket, the man could enter the VIP enclosure.
Seated in the special seats, the wife confessed that she had a secret. She had got the pass only after kissing a rather elderly gentleman. She hoped her husband was not offended, she had done it for him.
“Offended?” the man exclaimed. “Do you realise who you have kissed? It’s Eric Rowan. I’ve never been so proud of you in my life.”
Eric Rowan was born on 20 July 1909.