Not Cricket

In South Africa, Eric Rowan is as heroic a figure as Joe DiMaggio or Babe Ruth is in the U.S. Playing cricket against England last summer, Rowan, vice captain of his team and opening batsman, scored 236 runs, highest individual score any South African player ever made in a test match. But later, at Old Trafford, the Manchester cricket ground, Rowan made a different kind of sensation. When the crowd decided, he was "stonewalling" (i.e., batting a wholly defensive game), it gave him cricket's equivalent of a Bronx cheer--slow, rhythmic handclaps. Infuriated, Rowan sat down on the "pitch" (the ground between the two wickets), and signaled his batting partner to do the same until the "barracking" died down.

This was definitely not cricket. Last fortnight the South African Cricket Board, without explanation, fired Rowan from the team. Last week, while local sportwriters and cricket fans were demanding that the board break its stony silence, Rowan was planning to sue it for "smirching my good name." What's more, said he indignantly, "it's not cricket."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.