Rowe's 214 and 100 n.o. in inaugural Test - a world record

by A. C. de Silva

CRICKET: Lawrence George Rowe is his name and this West Indian Cricketer was born on January 8th 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica.

The world lay at his feet. He was the all Caribbean hero. He had the cricket-crazy islanders orgasmic in their worship to him. They had reason to idolise Lawrence Rowe, for very early in his career he had shown glimpses of rare genius and threatened to be the greatest post-war batsman.

The phenomenal speed and success with which Rowe was progressing in the early 70s had left the bowlers of the world utterly awestricken. There was every possibility of Rowe becoming the powerful force of world cricket. So astonishing was his career in the beginning. Rarely have sportspersons, let alone cricketers, been crowned with an incredible success and popularity in a very short time.

But the history of cricket offers numerous examples of success that was as transient as it was dazzling. Who could have ever got the faintest glimpse of a tragic turn to Rowe's fairytale romance with cricket even in the wildest flight of fancy?

He turned out to be a West Indian batting 'hero' in the days before Viv Richards. He played 30 Test matches scoring a total of 2,047 runs at an average of 43. This was a West Indian batsman ideally suited for the West Indian style of play. More than that, Lawrence Rowe was a home-town boy, at Sabina Park and here starts his superior qualities - four Tests brought him three centuries, including a unique double and a single hundred on debut.

His double century on debut was the first such effort by a West Indian or for that matter by any batsman in the world. On that occasion, he made 214 in the first innings and 100 not out in the second innings against New Zealand at Kingston in the 1971-72 series.

Rowe was an enigmatic, elegant composed right-hander, opening or high in the order. He thrived on sunshine and the back foot shots that we're the staple on hard pitches and less comfortable on a slower seaming surfaces. His hooking and pulling was instinctive and deadly. But his career was punctuated by problems with his eyesight, a variety of injuries and an allergy to grass. If Lawrence sneezed, they said, put the opposition in. He might not have been one of the supreme batsmen, but he did manage one of the great innings. Against England at Bridgetown in 1974 he made 302 out of 596 for 8 wickets, in a little over 10 hours of unruffled technical excellence.

"Although some say I was a celebrity, remained the same from the time I was a nobody, to the time I reached the pinnacle. I didn't have a clear run of at least three years after a fantastic debut. That's what I regret most," said Rowe.

Sabina Park - incredible place

For Rowe, Sabina Park was, an incredible place. He scored centuries against New Zealand, Australia and England.

"There was no one I really looked up to. There was Gary Sobers, you could say, and he was left-handed. People told me that I reminded them most of Sir Frank Worrell. After my debut series in 1972, they were comparing me to George Headley and Don Bradman, but injuries robbed me of a chance at greatness.

People like myself, Viv Richards and Alvin Kallichanan could play off both front and back foot, and we picked the length of the ball much earlier than most." Rowe said.

He said that he noticed that he had a problem with his eyes when the West Indies were on their way to India in 1974. At a restaurant in London, Gerry Alexander noticed that Rowe was holding the menu very close to his face. He said that with his left eye he was able to read the first two lines of the optician's chart. The right eye was 20/20.

Rowe said that when he played his first ball in Test cricket off the middle of the bat, he knew he was there. During a warm-up match in Pune, he said that he hooked a bouncer from Karsan Ghavri for six, but slipped and hit the wicket. The fielders all started to laugh at him.

Another West Indian 'great' - Michael Holding, believes Lawrence Rowe was the best batsman he saw. Lawrence Rowe was the West Indian batsman whose talent was so sublime it was overshadowed only by the calamity of his demise. Rowe's respectable but nondescript Test record obscures a unique career trajectory; no more extreme example of disappointed hopes can be found in international cricket.

Cricketer with natural gifts

Some in the Caribbean still believe it has produced no one with such natural gifts; nobody can describe him without a wistful shake of the head. Rowe's outsized overage after his Test debut arose from what remains a record performance, against New Zealand in February 1972. Nor was this merely a statistical freak. Rowe was one of those unusual batsmen to whom an orthodox technique came naturally, as though he had inherited cricket from first principles. His balance was balletic, his bat dismayingly straight, and his signature shot was off the back foot through the covers - always indicative of time to spare.

Critics likened Rowe to Frank Worrell and it was Worrell's father-in-law who volunteered the loveliest line of all: he commented that God seemed to have put a bat in Rowe's hands and counselled him. "Go thou and bat".

Rowe was known to attack the bowlers. Early in his innings against England at Kensington Park in March 1974, he received a bouncer from Bob Willis. He smashed it flat into the stand at square-leg; it travelled most of the way at head height. His 302 took only 430 hectic deliveries, with 36 further boundaries. More often, Rowe exuded ease. He was said to hit the ball just hard enough to reach the boundary, so that fielders always had to chase but never quite caught anything. And, completing the image, he whistled a tune after each attacking shot, as though to complement the magic of his bat.

Some in the Caribbean still believe it has produced no one with such natural gifts.